Schools

Alexandria Public Schools Receive Energy Star Certification

The ACPS School Board received the award for 13 schools at its meeting last week.

The Environmental Protection Agency has awarded 13 Alexandria City Public Schools buildings a special certification recognizing their ranking in the top 25% across the nation for energy efficiency.

Energy Education Regional Vice President Blaine Duggan presented the Energy Star award to the School Board during its Oct. 6 meeting.

The certified school buildings include both the and campuses of T.C. Williams High School; Campus; Charles Barrett, Patrick Henry, Douglas MacArthur, , William Ramsay and Samuel W. Tucker elementary schools; Lyles-Crouch Traditional Academy; ; Cora Kelly School for Math, Science and Technology; and .

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"We are extremely pleased to receive this recognition from Energy Star," said Superintendent Morton Sherman. "By reducing energy costs, ACPS is able to provide more funds for educational purposes."

In the spring of 2009, ACPS signed a deal with Energy Education, a program designed to educate ACPS staff and students to become energy conservers and good stewards of the environment. The partnership enabled ACPS to implement a system-wide energy management and education program resulting in a reduction of energy use throughout all schools. Since the program was implemented, ACPS said it has saved 18.1% on its energy and utility costs.

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"Since we began partnering with Energy Education on this serious energy conservation program, we have saved almost $450,000 compared to what we would have spent without the program," Sherman said. "The environmental impact is equal to taking 454 cars off the street or planting 64,600 trees in our community."

To achieve the certification, ACPS submitted information on factors such as energy usage, indoor air quality, the total area of each building's classroom, office and parking space, the number of computers in use within each building, and air-conditioning and heating.


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