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Educators Get Schooled On Energy Use
When politicians debate you can expect part of the discussion to focus on making
infrastructure improvements to enhance learning in the nation's educational
facilities. That sort of attention, combined with rising costs of natural gas
and heating oil, is reinforcing the effort federal energy officials are undertaking
to reduce the disproportionate cost of energy compared to the overall cost of
running today's schools.
America's K-12 schools spend more than $6 billion annually on energy, a number
the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is attempting to cut by a fourth - $1.5
billion ? through better building design, use of more efficient buses, increased
use of energy-efficient technologies and improvements in operations and maintenance.
Through EnergySmart Schools, a campaign of DOE's Rebuild America program, the
department is partnering with private businesses to lower the demand schools
place on the nation's energy resources without skipping a beat in the ongoing
movement to improve the learning and teaching environment for students and staff.
Unlike other efforts to improve facilities, EnergySmart Schools does not operate
on the assumption that school administrators want to conserve energy or reduce
energy use simply to improve energy efficiency. Officials and supporters of
the program know they will have to convince school boards and administrators
that there is a relationship between improving the learning and teaching environment
and energy efficiency while providing the best lighting, ventilation and noise
control possible.
Additionally, program officials are trying to drive the point home to school
decision makers that an energy-efficient environment frees up money to purchase
additional educational materials and computers, hire additional teachers and
pay for needed maintenance, repair or capital improvements to the facilities.
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