Nine more Madison Metropolitan School District schools have been certified by the Environmental Protection Agency as Energy Star Buildings. These schools include Gompers, Crestwood, Kennedy, Lake View, Marquette, Shorewood, Stephens, O'Keeffe, and Blackhawk. These schools will have a plaque from the EPA mounted near the main entrance indicating the certification.

The Energy Star Program recognizes schools that are the top 25% most energy efficient schools in the county. This is determined by the EPA through a large database, which includes building data, energy consumption, and operating parameters. Things like how long the building is used each day, and if it has a pool, are factors in the overall rating.

Energy Star certified school buildings cost $0.40 per square foot less to operate than other schools. Due to improvements made over the last few year, it is estimated that MMSD will save nearly a quarter of a million dollars in energy costs at the newly designated Energy Star schools.

These nine schools join Allied Learning Center, Cherokee, Jefferson, Lapham, Midvale, and Muir, which were certified in previous years.

Energy Savings at these buildings were achieved through the districts comprehensive Energy Management Program. You can see details on this program at: http://www.madison.k12.wi.us/bldgsrvc/. A major energy saving project this year was replacing old lighting in 31 gymnasiums with energy efficient fluorescent lighting, all controlled by motion sensors. The lighting replacement project was partially made possible with a grant from the State of Wisconsin's Focus on Energy program.

During the summer of 2008, Glendale will get lighting upgrades and Toki will get new windows. It is hoped that these buildings will also be eligible Energy Star designation in the near future.

The district's budget for electricity is over $2.5 million, and for heating (natural gas) it is over $1 million. Every dollar we save on energy costs is a dollar that can be spent in the classroom.

For more information on Energy Star, and what you can do to help reduce energy consumption, go to: http://www.energystar.gov.