East Greenbush Central School District administrators announced today that its Energy Savings program saved $408,452 in the 2016-17 fiscal year and more than $3.8 million in the past 10 years since its inception.
The successful cost-saving program is implemented through a partnership with Cenergistic, a leading organizational behavior-based energy conservation company.
The District has saved on energy costs over the years by making simple but effective changes in each school – setting standard temperatures, turning off lights and computers when not in use, and drawing shades at the end of the day.
“During the last decade, simple behavioral changes on everyone’s part have saved our district taxpayers millions of dollars,” Superintendent Jeff Simons said. “I’m proud of our staff for being good stewards of our resources.”
Tom Brownell, a third grade teacher at Red Mill Elementary School, oversees the Energy Savings program.
“It has been a long road to get to this point but District staff have really stepped up and made this program work,” Mr. Brownell said.
To measure the program’s effectiveness, East Greenbush CSD tracks energy consumption — including electricity, water, sewer, natural gas and fuel oil — using third-party energy-accounting software. The software compares current energy use to a baseline period in 2006-07, prior to the partnership with Cenergistic, and calculates the amount of energy that would have been used if conservation and management practices had not been implemented. It adjusts for weather, equipment additions or deletions, and changes in building use.
By tracking and analyzing energy use, the software helps the District and Cenergistic quickly identify and correct energy consumption that needs to be addressed.