Shining the spotlight on top energy savers

Students and school staff throughout the district have been told for more than a year they have the power to make real change in terms of energy conservation.

Now, those efforts are literally paying off as schools receive financial rewards for cutting back on electricity usage and saving the district money.

Following the implementation of Spot the Watt program about two years ago, 10 schools have received $3,742.

Sean Arnold, director of maintenance for the school district, said Explorer K-8 has been recognized as the top energy saver for the 2010-11 academic year — shaving 156,000 kilowatts off its energy bill that year.

As a reward, the school received a check for $758 that can be used for anything as long as it benefits students.

Second in the running for top energy saver was Nature Coast Technical High School, which cut 34,000 kilowatts and received a check for $647.

"I think we're on our way to making this program really successful," Arnold said. "At this early stage right now a lot of it is collecting data for later years. But right now principals are doing a great job of educating their students and staff."

Schools that saved the least — or no kilowatts at all — were, in no particular order, Springstead and Central High schools, and West Hernando Middle School.

Arnold said he's hesitant to shine the light on those schools as the worst energy savers, but he added those are the ones that need the most improvement.

Spot the Watt was implemented in 2010 as a means to reward the top energy savers at the elementary, middle and high school levels, similar to the district's recycling and water use program, which also rewards schools at the end of the year for saving the most.

The difficulty is setting the initial standard of what normal energy use would be for any given school or for the district overall, which generally takes roughly a year.

However, Arnold said it doesn't take much to throw those numbers off. For instance, he said the construction of Weeki Wachee High School and other campus expansion projects increased the district's overall wattage by 4 million between 2009-10 and 2010-11.

He said it would likely take a few more years before anyone can see consistent data that can be compared year-to-year.

For instance, schools now have more competition than the previous year for the title of best energy saver. Arnold said Weeki Wachee High is now in the running after the school was left out of the competition last year while officials recorded its wattage to set its baseline usage.

The following school year, Winding Waters K-8 will be in the running.

Currently, he said the district is showing energy savings of 4 million kilowatts when comparing the first eight months of the school year last year to this year.

The top two schools in energy savings are Weeki Wachee and Challenger K-8.

"That can change at any time," Arnold said. "Right now we have only the first two quarters worth of information. And schools can do awesome one month and then completely negate those efforts. And rebate money is up for grabs for every school."

For more information about Spot the Watt or tips to save energy, go to www.hernandoschools.org.