A school, whether its grade school or a college campus, can use up a lot of energy during the day. From heating the building to inefficient lighting fixtures in the building; a school that is running 8-10 hours a day can prove to be a huge consumer of energy and thus; a high overhead to maintain.

This post is specifically for those whom work for a school or college campus that can either make the decisions, or can recommend new ideas to those who do make these types of decisions. The overall goal of this post is to bring the most actionable energy saving ideas for schools so that you can start looking into them immediately.

We are going to be covering 15 practical tips and ways that you can start saving energy in schools and become a greener, more sustainable facility overall. Here they are…

hallways, classrooms, and really anywhere with lower ceilings that are flat.

This technology is, more often than not, fluorescent. Believe it or not, this actually isn’t the most energy efficient lighting technology out there. So what is you ask?

Well, LED technology is by far the most efficient luminaire on the market today. By switching from fluorescent to LED, you will be able to realize a 30% reduction in energy usage associated with your tube lights.

As for you parking lot and sports fields, you can make the switch away from technologies like metal halide or HPS over to LED and realize every greater energy savings by up to 75%! Talk about a lot of energy being reduced.

And no, screen savers don’t save energy. But, what does save energy more-so than a screen saver is the “sleep” function that every computer has. On top of that, next time you plan on upgrading your computers, make sure you buy Energy Star qualified ones. This means they’ve passed some energy efficiency tests and are much more energy efficient than non-qualified computers are (same with your lighting system, make sure it is Energy Star or building commissioning, you get every single last area of your school inspected to ensure it is running exactly how it was designed to run. A lot of times we overlook things that are unique issues to your school, and no matter how long of a list we read on ways to conserve energy at school; we will never see everything. So our tip for you is to bring in a professional to do a full building commissioning audit, and let them tell you what is up.

Face it, a lot of classes happen during broad daylight and by not using up that free light from outside is a pure waste. By opening blinds to there fullest (when appropriate) you can reduce the amount of lights you need on by nearly half, depending on the day and time of year.

Just make sure to remind everyone to do this otherwise, you’ll never will with this tactic. Remember: you need to get the school on board or else you can only do so much.

Alternatively to just opening the blinds and windows, installing skylights into virtually any area of the building can be an even more effective way of getting the most natural light into your building. This is probably most beneficial for areas that would otherwise have no natural light whatsoever, such as hallways or interior rooms.

We’ve already brought up some points about your heating system, but here is yet another. Think about how often students are in the hallways, not nearly as much as they are in classrooms, right? So, why not make an initiative to heat the classrooms and stop heating those huge hallways that waste tons of heat to the outside from all those doors being opened.

Just make sure that everyone is closing their doors if you do decide to go this route. Likewise, you could install doors that automatically close which will prevent random doors from being forgotten about.

Although this won’t directly save your school energy, it sure does help reduce both waste and energy associated with creating new materials. The most simple way to start the promotion of recycling at school is simple; make it readily available. If you aren’t putting recycle bins next to every trash bin, most people won’t go out of there way to recycle so they will just throw it away and let it go to the landfill.

A step further would even to start investment in solar technology can be hefty, but rebates and grants are out there to make it a more affordable option that ever. On top of that, you are becoming a role model to the community by showcasing what conserving energy can do when used with solar energy technology. Let solar generate your building a positive ROI all while conversing the planets resources.

We think the list could endless of all the possible ways to save energy in school, so we must of forgot some. Be sure to comment down below your energy conservation tips that will help out school facilities become greener!

Conclusion

All of these tips are exactly how energy efficient schools are becoming more sustainable, reducing ongoing costs, and generating a positive atmosphere and educational system for students and generations to come.

Don’t let the upfront costs scare you, instead look at the bigger picture. If you have to invest money now to save 10x later, isn’t it worth it? All of these things will do just that, improve the bottom line. And not only are we doing that, but we help the environment out just a little bit too. Sounds like a win-win to us! Just remember that saving energy at school doesn’t have to be hard, just take it step by step and you will slowly see the results of your efforts build up!

Anyways, to wrap it up we’d like to invite you to share any of your own energy conservation tips for schools that you may have done or even just thought of that may benefit other schools across the globe. Share your tips in the comments below, you never know who it may help. And remember, an energy saving school is a happy school!

Anyone here in little old Burbank like great customer service? If you raised your hand, that probably means you like being appreciated and understood. There has been a lot to read lately about large companies forking out huge amounts of money to improve there customer relations. And yet, I just read another article that reported the results of a recent survey, revealing that overall most of us are unhappy with a general decline in customer service.

One power company on the East Coast had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars supposedly improving its customer service, only to be criticized heavily when a major storm caused more outages then ever before and they were unable to get electricity back to many customer in reasonable time. It makes me wonder what it means when a company announces spending a lot to remodel its customer service.

I have my own criteria, a shortened version of the 10 commandments for good customer service. I look for a business that:

When I needed an electrician in Burbank a while back, I started with your basic internet search for Electrician Burbank CA – or something like that. I did my research, read all about various electricians in Burbank, their companies and a lot of testimonials. I chose an established company called The Electric Connection. Sometimes you just have to dive in and keep your fingers crossed.

The next day, I was pleased to greet a professional looking Burbank electrician, equipped with his electrical tools, at my front door, right on time. That is always a good sign. He presented me a bit later with a very reasonable electrical bid that included a whole house surge protector, an electrical panel upgrade, some new outlets, an attic fan installation and new custom lighting in my kitchen. I could tell through our interaction he was my kind of electrical service person, the kind that uses common sense. Check off #3.

All the electrical work was done by the end of the day. I love my new kitchen lights and I now have the peace of mind that comes with having a total power surge protection, not to mention all of other great electrical installations he did for me. Next month I will have my sensible Burbank electrician return to have some of our electrical outlets replaced and a ceiling fan installed. I can truly say they deliver more than they promise. You can check off # 1 and 2.

Oh, and yes you can check off #4. The day following the work being completed, I received a call from the office to make sure I was pleased with the work, and to tell me how much my business was appreciated. Give another check for # 3 as well. Sometimes I think really big electrical contracting companies would benefit by observing those common sense activities performed by smaller dedicated electrical services businesses in order to witness just how simple good customer service is. Something tells me they are making it way too complex. No more looking for “electrician, Burbank” at my house now that I’ve found The Electric Connection. Four or five well deserved check marks makes me loyal for life!

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Every commercial space, whether it’s a hotel, restaurant, office, department store, small shop, school, or hospital, can benefit from switching to LED lighting. LEDs are energy-efficient alternatives to halogen, and Universal LED Bulb Finder to search by bulb type, or browse our site to see hundreds of lighting options.

There are many LED recessed lighting options for existing can lights, eyeball lights, or other recessed commercial applications. Traditionally, recessed fixtures contain either a PAR halogen bulb or a BR incandescent bulb. These bulbs are available in several different sizes, and each type has its own set of features. BR bulbs typically have wide flood beam patterns and allow for more of a gradual fade of light. LED replacement PAR and BR bulbs have those same features but with increased energy efficiency and longer life spans. Complete LED fixture replacements, such as downlights, are also an option.

When it comes to commercial lighting, one of the most popular fixtures is the fluorescent panel light with T8 tubes. These panels offer little in the way of quality lighting. Hot spots are visible even through their textured lenses, and the light that they emit has a yellow-green hue. CRI), which is the key to showing the true colors of objects and surroundings. They emit crisp, clear illumination with no visible hotspots, and you won’t have to worry about replacing them for a very long time.

It’s no secret that a well-lit sign will stand out more than one that is poorly lit. LED sign modules are available in many different intensities and colors to illuminate signs, light boxes, marquees, and channel letters. Because LED bulbs can last up to 25 times longer than incandescent or halogen alternatives or approximately five times longer than fluorescent tube lights, the need for replacements is few and far between.

One of the hardest parts of electrical work is accessibility. In some situations, adding a new outlet or replace old wiring can require nearly tearing your walls apart. There is a solution, however: Open building can make things easier by focusing on flexibility, ease of access and disentanglement of systems. If you’re building, renovating or putting an addition on your home, try incorporating open building principles to make it simple to change or upgrade your electrical system.

Total Flexibility

The big picture when it comes to open building is to keep the support structure of the house separate from the interior fill-out. This construction style also keeps wall spaces accessible and strives toward total flexibility. After all, chances are you'll have to replace one or more of your internal systems before you need to rebuild the whole house.

That means infill systems like your wiring are separated from others like plumbing and insulation so it's not difficult to access and remove them. So if you need to remove outdated wireing, add new circuits or upgrade your whole system to comply with local code, there's no need to gut your house. Instead, you remove some panels, install the electrical with no fuss and pop the panels back into place. No need to break through drywall or struggle with ducts and pipes that are in the way.

Rational Form of Design

The open building concept is being driven by the Open Prototype, a collaboration between MIT and Bensonwood Homes to build and test various models for open building principles.

“The simple act of disentangling the wiring from the structure and insulation layer allows you to upgrade, change, or replace a 20-year-lifespan electrical system when new technology arises without affecting a 300-year structure,” Bensonwood Homes founder Tedd Benson said to Ecobuilding Pulse. “Open Building provides a more rational form of design and construction that supports long-term sustainability for buildings with increased shell longevity, and more control and flexibility for the homeowner.”

The idea is to ensure that the home of today is ready to adapt to the needs of the tomorrow's homeowners. “We can’t predict what people will need and want in their living environment,” Benson said. “Open Building principles respond to occupants’ changing needs rather than force the occupants to conform to a preconceived design.