JUNO BEACH, Fla. – Florida Power & Light Company on Nov. 12 will roll out a new pilot program in the Broward County School District that puts control of energy usage, and the resulting financial savings, into the hands of each of the district’s 256 school principals.
Energy Tools for Schools teaches students and staff at each school specific steps for saving energy – and money. Superintendent James Notter has challenged his principals to participate by allowing them to put the savings from the program back into their schools.
After this school year, FPL plans to make the program available to all of the school districts in its service territory.
The Broward School District and FPL have partnered on energy conservation since 1998. That partnership has resulted in $9 million in total savings to the school system so far. As a result, FPL has nominated the school district for the Platts Global Energy Award to be announced in New York City on Nov. 29.
The award was established in 1999 to recognize outstanding achievement in the energy industry. Platts, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, is a leading global provider of energy and metals information.
The school district has implemented new software to track and analyze energy consumption, created new building designs to promote energy efficiency and installed advanced air conditioning systems.
In addition to financial savings, the reduction in energy usage from these programs has resulted in the environmental equivalent of avoiding more than 92 million pounds of CO2 in the atmosphere. Translated yet again, that is equivalent to removing 8,716 cars from the road or planting 17,832 acres of trees.
However, despite the savings, Broward County schools spend about $328,000 each school day for electricity, or about $61 million a year. Air conditioning and lighting account for about 73 percent of the total electricity usage in the school system and provide the greatest opportunity for savings.
“If we work together to use energy wisely and save where we can, it will result in lower school energy bills,” said Gene Beck, FPL’s corporate manager for governmental accounts, in touting the Energy Tools for Schools program. “If each school will reduce energy consumption by only a small percentage, a considerable amount of money will be available to reinforce other budgetary needs.”
As part of the program, each school will appoint an “energy coordinator” who will in turn organize teams to develop an energy management checklist and establish an energy control plan for each school.
The checklist will include such areas as air conditioning, lighting, appliances and equipment, water, gas and natural gas usage and will also be broken down into specific physical areas of the school such as hallways, restrooms, computer labs, portable classrooms, etc.
Examples of checklist items include:
- Unnecessary lights off at 3 p.m.
- Check water fountains for running/leaks
- Use window covering to block sun
- Overhead projector off
- Set back thermostats when not occupied
About FPL
Florida Power & Light Company is the principal subsidiary of FPL Group, Inc. (NYSE: FPL), nationally known as a high quality, efficient and customer-driven organization focused on energy-related products and services. With annual revenues of nearly $16 billion and a growing presence in 27 states, FPL Group is widely recognized as one of the country's premier power companies. Florida Power & Light Company serves 4.5 million customer accounts in Florida. FPL Energy, LLC, FPL Group's competitive energy subsidiary, is a leader in producing electricity from clean and renewable fuels. Additional information is available on the Internet at www.FPL.com, www.FPLGroup.com and www.FPLEnergy.com.