Three Wisconsin schools taking part in the FOCUS ON ENERGY®/ Wisconsin K-12 Energy Education Program (KEEP) Renew Our Schools Competition showed just how much energy they could save in just one day and their energy teams will get some cold hard cash for not only achieving the goal but surpassing it!
The Renew Our Schools challenge presented by Focus on Energy and Wisconsin K-12 Energy Education (KEEP) entered its fifth week with an exciting one-day challenge. Participating schools were challenged to reduce their energy usage by 3% in one day and, in exchange for achieving this feat, they would receive $100 cash for their school.
Three Wisconsin schools rose to the challenge, with one school saving as much as 16%!
Let's find out more about the winners and their secrets to their success!
Jeff McKean
SAGES – Waupun Area School District
16% reduction/one-day energy usage
“Our team did a great job of speaking to our school about the pop-up challenge! We had an effective announcement on morning announcements. Also, a couple of students produced a short video to share with staff at the staff meeting about what we wanted to accomplish the next day! The teachers were directly made aware and were willing to help! It was a whole school effort!
I think having a good relationship with our custodian helped too. He was supportive of this attempt!”
Kelly Holtzman
Oconomowoc High School – Oconomowoc School District
14% reduction/one-day energy usage
“We have a very forward-thinking Buildings and Grounds staff who have an energy program in place, so they are constantly looking for ways to reduce energy use and reduce costs. Here are a few things we did to see success for the one-day challenge and throughout the program:
- We created daily announcements to use on our live student directed all school announcements.
- Students wrote emails to the staff and provided them with ideas and ways they could reduce their energy use.
- Our biggest success came from the custodians turning the air handlers to an occupancy only setting so they were only running while the building was occupied.
Michele L. Huppert
Menomonie High School – Menomonie School District
9% reduction/one-day energy usage
“Students took several initiatives.
We focused on:
- Closing classroom doors to make heating/cooling the building more efficient.
- Opening blinds and turning down/off our fluorescent lights whenever possible.
We accomplished this by:
- Checking doors and putting “Thank You” signs on doors that were closed.
- Sending email reminders to staff about our goals and audit recommendations.
- Making and hanging signs about closing doors and minimizing lights in classrooms and hallways.”
Schools are signing up RIGHT NOW for the Renew Our Schools Competition in the fall.
The registration deadline is March 31.
Learn more about the competition here.
And make sure to follow Focus on Energy’s social media channels so you will find out which of the ten Wisconsin schools won the current Renew Our Schools Competition!