Students Leading the Way

This has been an extraordinary year for the Alliance to Save Energy’s Green Schools Program. With school districts in California facing sharp budget cuts, families across the country shouldering ever-increasing energy costs, and the risks of climate change continuing unabated, the need for increased energy efficiency at school and at home could not be greater. During the 2009-10 school year, our Green Schools have been working hard to address all three of these challenges, all the while advancing student learning and leadership.

Real Energy Savings

As a testament to the remarkable success of this year’s program, 54 schools across all three participating school districts – Murrieta Valley, Temecula Valley, and Lake Elsinore – reduced energy use by an average of 15.5%, more than any other year of the program. Collectively, the 2009 – 2010 Green Schools saved 5.7 million kilowatt hours of electricity, equivalent to $911,693 and preventing 3,156 tons of carbon dioxide from being emit-ted into the atmosphere!

Green Schools students have proven to be the true leaders in spreading the energy efficiency message in a variety of ways—giving presentations at school assemblies, developing energy policies, organizing poster contests with innovative award incentives, producing skits to perform in front of peers and parents, and allowing students to grow into leaders who are trained to make effective change within their communities.

Pathways to Green Careers

The Green Schools Program also opens pathways to “green” careers, a rapidly growing sector of the job market. This year, students were exposed to various green career opportunities through presentations from professionals in the field, career fairs, instruction in the classroom, and experiential, hands-on learning. By participating in Green Schools activities, students gained practical and valuable job skills, such as how to conduct an energy audit, calculate and analyze data, present results to a broader audience, and train and educate their peers, school, and local community about important environmental issues.

The Alliance to Save Energy established the Green Schools Program in 1996 to help school districts save on energy costs and empower students to become environmental stewards and energy-efficiency advocates in their schools, homes, and communities.

Goals of the Program

The goals of the Green Schools Program are to:

• Educate students and the school community about energy efficiency and its relationship to the environment and the economy;
• Provide immediate energy savings in schools through no-cost behavior and operations changes, and promote longer-term savings through efficiency retrofits;
• Strengthen academic learning by engaging students in hands-on learning projects; and
• Build a pathway to green jobs

The California Green Schools Program began in Los Angeles County in 1999 and now includes about 65 schools each year throughout Southern California. The Alliance to Save Energy commends these schools for their accomplishments and for their contributions to Students Leading the Way 2009 – 2010: Energy Saving Success Stories from California.

Read the Full Report (PDF File)