Vol, 7, No. 6: February 11, 2008		Get SEAchange by email

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5. West Allis-West Milwaukee saves money, wins EPA award

The West Allis-West Milwaukee School District has been named an Energy Star Leader by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Only 51 Energy Star Leaders have been recognized since the program began in 1992. To become an Energy Star Leader, an organization or business that manages multiple buildings must improve energy efficiency by at least ten percent (West Allis-West Milwaukee met that benchmark and doubled it to 20 percent.).

The school district was one of nine to earn the honor in the latest round of awards. Almost two-thirds of all Energy Star Leaders have been school districts.

From 2003 to 2007, West Allis-West Milwaukee met its goal of reducing energy use by 50 percent, conserving 10.3 million kilowatt-hours of electricity, 768,000 therms of natural gas, and 16 million gallons of water. According to the EPA, that adds up to a total reduction of 11,440 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

And, the district says it has amounted to savings of more than $1 million over the last two years. Some of that money has been reinvested to further increase energy savings, for example by retrofitting lighting, replacing boilers, and calibrating thermostats to adjust for peak usage periods.

The school board gives some of the credit for the award to Energy Education, Inc., a company the district hired in 2004 to help create a district-wide "Energy Ethic."

West Allis-West Milwaukee has also earned Energy Star recognition for three of its schools.

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Last updated on 2/11/2008