The new Cleveland High School science wing.CLEVELAND, Tenn. - Three years after starting an energy savings program, Cleveland City Schools has crossed the $1 million mark in cost savings, energy director Paul Ramsey said.
The city system was recognized this week for taking part in TVA's Green Schools Project.
"I often get asked, 'Are we really saving money?'" Ramsey told the school board.
He brought a graphic to the board meeting to trace the program from July 2008, when the conservation program established its baseline year.
Ramsey said the energy and dollar savings is a result of efforts by teachers, staff, custodial and maintenance crews.
Even in August, during hot weather when Cleveland High School's science wing added 44,000 square feet to the system, the costs still were below the baseline figure, Ramsey said.
He said schools using a geothermal system are the biggest savers. The four most efficient schools in the city system have geothermal systems, Ramsey said.
Bradley County Schools started its first geothermal school, Park View Elementary, last year.
But Bradley also started an energy savings program before the city did, board member Murl Dirksen said.
The new science wing, with its motion sensors that turn lights off when not needed, has raised awareness, too, Cleveland High School Principal Autumn O'Bryan said.
"It just adds awareness, making sure computers are turned off, those sort of things," she said.
Teachers and students have accepted the program, O'Bryan said. "They are in those rooms. They are working hard," she said. "They have responded very kindly."
E.L. Ross Elementary, Cleveland Middle and Cleveland High schools were selected to take part in TVA's Green Schools Program. That program involves students doing their own school energy audit and energy conservation activities that fit the state's science and mathematics guidelines.