Why Conserve
Importance of Conservation
By Phil Young
Energy conservation was brought to our attention in a very memorable way this year. Our maintenance supervisor, Tom Baldwin, stated in very simple terms how the Penncrest faculty and staff could do their part. I remember thinking at the time that his tactic was a little over the top and dramatic. However, the past month has provided me with information that has made me think that Mr. Baldwin’s words were stated quite accurately.
The district has taken a very active role towards saving money and conserving energy in our buildings. On October sixth a principal and faculty member from each building in Penncrest attended a meeting where they were presented information detailing our district’s current energy situation. I was also fortunate enough to be in attendance at a recent workshop put on at the new Tom Ridge Environmental Center in Erie, where representatives of DEP, National Fuel Gas Company, DCNR, and many other energy related organizations met to discuss the future of energy and energy conservation in schools. Being one of the faculty members in attendance at both of these meetings, I have begun to realize the seriousness to which we should be taking our conservation measures and the money these measures will save.
The district has made some considerable investments to update our current systems and trained maintenance and custodial staff on these systems with an expected savings or return on this investment over the next several years. While most of these efficiency updates occur behind the scenes some buildings have seen a variety of subtle changes such as updated lighting and more efficient electrical appliances. While this is great news, technology can only do so much.
The majority of energy savings can only come from changes people in the buildings make. All energy companies that are doing business in Pennsylvania charge customers their current rates based on contracts made with the Commonwealth years ago. For some companies like Penn Power these contracts are about to expire and Pa has already approved a thirty percent increase. Penelec, which is our districts provider, has a contract that will expire in 2010. Experts believe the price for electricity will be double it is now when their contract expires and the public will have limited options in the company they use, just as they do now. Methods for cutting down on the amount of energy being used must be established and put into action at the earliest opportunity.
It is my opinion that many people feel that any action they take towards conservation will not make a difference in the money our district saves. I was previously under the impression that turning off the lights or shutting down a computer could result in an insignificant savings at best. After discussing the facts and figures at both of the workshops I attended, it is evident that the simplest conservation actions can make a large difference. Simply leaving one computer on over evenings and weekends can cost the district upwards of $300 a year. That is just one computer among hundreds throughout the districts buildings. Computers and their monitors need to be shut down completely over evenings and weekends. Another large consumer of electricity that we have some control over are the lights in our classrooms. Many times vacant rooms are completely lit. Any calculations that could be done to show savings from shutting lights off when they are not being used are tough to do accurately due to so many variables playing a role, but estimates put the savings per year in the thousands. But really, what does this matter to the faculty and staff? Aside from paying taxes, were not paying the bills.
While it is true that we feel we have nothing to gain or lose financially by being stewards of conservation, we must look at the bigger picture. The districts budget is tightly controlled and scrutinized not only by the public but also by the school board. When a variable expense such as energy increases, the money has to come from somewhere. With the public not wanting to ever hear of a tax increase the school board is forced to find the money from other areas of the budget. This translates to cuts in a variety of programs. It may be athletic programs where the number of coaches can be decreased or whole programs being cut. It might also result in cuts in funding for field trips or educational opportunities for our students. Some of these cuts have already been put in place or been barely reversed by the public. In worst case scenarios positions like aids and assistants, or even faculty, could be eliminated. Without a commitment toward conservation it is only a matter of time before the ever increasing cost of energy has an affect on all of us.