The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced that Bloomfield, New Jersey’s Demarest Elementary School is the grand winner in the 2012 Battle of the Buildings Energy Star Competition for cutting its overall energy use in excess of fifty percent. More than three thousand businesses and organizations submitted their buildings in the national contest.

The award winning school reduced its consumption use through a variety of easy and affordable strategies:

• a long-malfunctioning heating system timer was replaced allowing the system to operate on an efficient schedule.
• custodians shifted from automatic heating to adjusting the boiler based on outside temperatures and modified lighting so that lights were dimmed or off completely during times when students and teachers were not present.
• Vending machines and computers were turning off and unplugged when work ended for the day.

Overall, the school’s measures saved nearly $76,000 in energy costs. Energy reductions were verified by independent professional engineers for accuracy and authenticity. Based on information submitted from all participants, a grand total of over fifty million dollars was saved.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: What are the schools and government building in your community doing to cut energy use costs? As this elementary school shows, simple changes such as unplugging machines and actively managing heating and cooling can result in big savings. That not only helps the environment but also helps tax payers!