BERLIN An energy efficiency
incentive program saved roughly
$100,000 across Worcester County
Public Schools (WCPS) last year.
The incentive program offered
schools funding as a reward for re-
ducing a building's energy output.
Of the 14 WCPS, 10 were able to
reduce their energy usage enough
to qualify for the incentives. Chief F-
inancial Officer Vincent Tolbert brief-
ed the Board of Education on the
results of the program, which took
place during the last school year, at
the board's August meeting.
"Overall, we reduced energy over
870,000kwh ... total savings were a-
bout $100,000 for the six-month
timeframe and about $52,000 of that
is going back to the schools as finan-
cial incentives," he said. "They'll be
able to use that money for instruc-
tional supplies for the classroom. So
the money that would have been
paid for energy is now being put back
in the classroom for the kids."
Of the 10 schools, Buckingham El-
ementary reduced energy usage by 7
percent, Worcester Technical High
School by 8 percent, Pocomoke El-
ementary and Stephen Decatur Mid-
dle School both by 10 percent, Snow
Hill High School by 11 percent, Ste-
phen Decatur High School by 12 per-
cent, Pocomoke Middle School by 13
percent, Snow Hill Middle and Cedar
Chapel Special School both by 15
percent and Berlin Intermediate
School (BIS) by 23 percent.
"We wanted to do our part at try-
ing to be more efficient at what we
do around here," said Thomas
Sites, principal for BIS.
The school tackled the energy re-
duction challenge "wholeheartedly,"
according to Sites. A lot of the cred-
it goes to former Head Custodian
Paul Hudson, Sites continued.
"He really took the lead on it. I
told him what we wanted to do and
he really ran with it," Sites said.
Most of the changes BIS made
were small, he continued, but added
up to a nearly quarter reduction in
energy usage over six months.
This included keeping lights off in
areas that were not in use and un-
plugging vending machines occa-
sionally over the weekend.
"[Hudson] would have enough
lights on for safety, but we turned off
as many as possible until 7:30 a.m.
when students started arriving
rather than having them on at 6 a.m.
when everyone arrived," said Sites.
Due to the success of the program,
it will be ongoing and Sites expects
BIS to at least meet their 23.5-percent
savings again this year.
School Energy Initiative Saved County $100K
Page 10
August 30, 2013
The Dispatch/Maryland Coast Dispatch
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