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Environmental Education
Energy Conservation Measures
Environmental Education is the behavioural
component of the Better Schools Partnership™
(BSP™) Energy Management Solution. Physical retrofits
are one source of energy savings while behaviour change
is the other. The strategic intent of the program is
to encourage people to conserve energy and to reallocate
the resulting savings to program enhancements. Two immediate
examples are the shutting off of lights and computers
when they are not in use. Just turning off computers
can result in estimated savings of $30-40 per workstation.
This results in major savings over a year, which frees
resources for investment in classroom learning and creates
a healthier planet today and for future generations.
Education Program Enhancement
BSP™ utilizesis a student-driven
educational program that teaches students and staff
how to conserve energy and resources. We recognize that
educational programs alone create a short-term impact;
long-term change requires a multi-faceted system. The
key component of the program that provides long-term
change is the environmental, the education and awareness
program.
Program Board Level Goals
- Reduce energy costs to reallocate
resources to education.
- To inform participants of issues
related to energy use, water use and waste disposal.
- Increase the awareness of everyone's
role and responsibility to conserve resources and
create a healthier local and global ecosystem.
- To create opportunities to identify,
implement and monitor conservation activities within
schools.
- To work toward sustainability
by emphasizing individual and collective actions.
- To enroll local businesses and
other organizations to support the program financially
or otherwise.
School Goals
- To share in the savings.
- To enhance science program learning
outcomes and make learning fun.
- To increase awareness of how energy
use, water consumption and waste disposal affect the
environment
- To increase awareness of schools capacity
to use energy and water more efficiently and to produce
less waste
- To develop and implement comprehensive
energy efficiency, water conservation and waste reduction
programs
Expected Outcomes
The Environmental Education program has
two expected results:
- Lower utility and waste handling bills
for the districts. Environmental Education responds
to the budget crisis faced by districts in recent
years. Schools involved in the program receive lower
utility bills thereby freeing excess funds to retrofit
schools. An average school can reduce their utility
bills by up to 2% - 7% percent in the first year alone.
With additional technical retrofits completed by Ameresco
Canada schools have achieved an average of 30 - 40%
percent savings.
- Reduced impact of the school's operation
on the natural environment. By reducing energy use,
emissions from coal, natural gas and oil use are reduced.
Water conservation not only reduces the use of a valuable
renewable resource, but conserves the energy needed
to clean, pump and heat water. Practicing the 3Rs
also conserves the energy required to produce consumer
products while reducing the impact of waste disposal.
How does Environmental Education Impact
Better Schools Partnership™?
Environmental Education assists the whole
school community to take action to create a Better School.
A School Conservation Team is established in each school
consisting of an administrator, a teacher, a custodian,
a parent and lead students. The School Conservation
Team communicates conservation initiatives to other
members of the team and leads the conservation actions
in their school. The communication ensures that the
whole school community is aware of the conservation
initiatives occurring in their school.
Environmental Education also creates a
Better School as the School Conservation Team also initiates
other actions to complement the technical retrofits
(e.g. converting lighting to more energy efficient lighting
systems). The students and staff are aware of the new
technology and their benefits but also encourage activities
such as turning lights and computers off. These initiatives
also generate savings on utility costs, which contributes
to the savings received by the school district. Through
the Environmental Education Program, schools often begin
with easier initiatives and as they see the success
of these initiatives, they begin to expand to other
environmental projects such as school ground naturalization/beautification.
As their projects expand, the impact often moves beyond
creating a Better School to creating a better community.
BSP™
BSP™ is an innovative, new Web-based environmental
education program combining technology, energy-savvy,
environmental awareness and standards-based interactive
curriculum in an Internet-delivered package. It is designed
to bring environmental education alive in classrooms
across North America - and around the world.
BSP™ will build on the success of Destination
Conservation, a highly praised environmental education
program started 15 years ago in Edmonton, Alberta. Destination
Conservation helps schools effectively reduce energy
use, conserve water, and minimize waste production,
through proven educational programs and the implementation
of common sense conservation practices and technologies.
Typically, schools achieve very significant savings,
freeing up scarce dollars for things like learning materials.
BSP™ will extend and enhance the Destination Conservation
program, embedding its programs in core curriculum materials
such as science, mathematics, language arts and social
studies.
"We have been working with schools
for years," says Destination Conservation founder
and Time magazine 'Hero for the Planet' Brian
Staszenski. "We've proven that students, teachers,
and administrators, with the right support, can turn
their schools into greener, more efficient - and cost-effective
- buildings. Places that are healthier and safer for
everyone - and with a bit of effort, reducing their
utility bills by up to 50%! Now, with the fall 2001
launch of BSP™ in the Ottawa-Carleton District School
Board (OCDSB) in Ontario, we'll be able to extend that
crucial service to every school in North America with
an Internet connection. Whether face-to-face or online,
our message remains the same: what can be achieved in
our schools, can be replicated in our homes and businesses.
Or as I like to put it, if kids can do it, what's your
problem?!" Staszenski concluded.
In an allied announcement at the Rebuild
America conference in 2001, BSP™ unveiled a North American
alliance with Charlotte, North Carolina-based DukeSolutions
Inc. A wholly owned affiliate of Duke Energy, Inc.,
now Ameresco Inc. Ameresco Canada (formerly DukeSolutions
Canada Inc.) provides comprehensive support for school
districts desiring to make their schools more energy
efficient. "The fit between Ameresco's Better Schools
Partnership™ and BSP™ is perfect," stated Staszenski.
"When a district we're working with needs technical
advice and support to carry out needed retrofits, our
partners at Ameresco Canada will be there — they're
the best in the business. They truly understand how
school districts function, and are able to provide thoughtful,
appropriate support — no square pegs being hammered
into round holes!
"BSP™ will provide the link between
curriculum and instruction-based needs of the classroom,
and the increasing importance that our schools become
more energy-efficient and cost-effective. BSP™ and Ameresco
Canada make for a unique team. Together, we're going
to make a very big difference to many, many North American
school districts," Staszenski added.
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