News
FEATURE – Which two Canadian schools were named K-12 Earth Day Champions?
April 23, 2013 - Two Canadian schools have made the list! Johnson Controls has released its 2013 Top Earth Day Champions in Education list to recognize higher education institutions and kindergarten through 12 (K-12) grade school districts in North America promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy projects at their facilities.
April 23, 2013 By Alyssa Dalton
Congratulations to Lester B. Pearson School Board in Montreal, Que., (carbon reduction of 6117 metric tons) and Calgary Board of Education in Calgary, Alta., (carbon reduction of 4920 metric tons) for being named K-12 Earth Day Champions.
“Students across North America are celebrating Earth Day with special events and lesson plans,” said Dave Myers, president of Johnson Controls Building Efficiency. “Today we celebrate the leaders in K-12 and higher education who teach by example, reducing their facilities’ carbon pollution and creating better learning environments for students and staff – all with a strong financial payback for their communities.”
The champions earned a spot on the list by making their educational facilities more efficient through different measures, such as building management systems to optimize energy and operational efficiency, installing renewable energy technology, efficient lighting, and updating heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, said Johnson Controls. The company noted its energy performance contracting projects have saved nearly 19 million metric tons of CO2 and generated savings of $7 billion in North America since 2000.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) reports that K-12 schools spend more than $8 billion annually on energy, making energy the second highest operating expenditure for schools after personnel. The DOE projects that, on average, green schools save $100,000 per year on operating costs—enough to buy 200 new computers or purchase 5000 textbooks.
Print this page
