The Lake Stevens School District in suburban Seattle has saved itself $1.5 million since 2010. But the students and teachers haven’t been required to do anything particularly special or innovative or requiring costly technology to save this rather princely sum. They have merely been very vigilant about turning things off.
While school is in session, this means that computers, monitors, printers, and of course lights are always turned off when not in use — you know, just doing what Sesame Street always told you to do anyway. Before a school break starts, Lake Stevens goes through a checklist to make sure absolutely everything in the school is off. The $1.5 million represents a whopping 34 percent reduction in the district’s energy bills, which has enabled the administration to better fund schools.
Hmm. Wonder how we might be able to follow their lead to lower our own overhead, and put needed money in our own pockets? Plus, oh yeah, be better citizens of planet Earth.
