SMART ENERGY LEADERS
Strategy forms foundation of energy management in education
BC Hydro works with some of B.C.’s largest organizations to strategically manage plans around energy efficiency. The important work being done by some of this province’s leaders in energy management is being featured in this space. This month, the discussion highlights how K-12 schools can benefit from energy efficiency.
After putting a little thought into it, Alexandra Tudose believes she has identified the moment when her personal connection to the natural world bloomed into life.
“Every year for Christmas, my mom would put on some kind of animated movie to buy herself time to get Christmas tasks done,” the manager, Energy & Environmental Sustainability for School District 42 (Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows) says. “When I was nine, she put on Fern Gully, and I started crying and crying – hysterically crying – when all of the trees got cut down, and my mom said, ‘I bet you’re going to be one of those environmental people when you grow up,’ She was totally right!”
After studying sustainability at Simon Fraser University and sustainable energy management at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, she decided energy management would be a good way to combine her interest in the environment with her natural inclination for the world of business – first as energy manager for the City of Maple Ridge, and then School District 42.
She credits much of the progress the district has made to date to groundwork done by SD 42 secretary treasurer Flavia Coughlan and director of maintenance Rick Delorme. Even before Tudose was hired, detailed studies identified specific costs and the energy-saving potential of a wide variety of projects, which were then approved by the board. That allowed Tudose to hit the ground running.
“I took all of that information and built a five-year strategic energy management plan, with specific targets,” Tudose says. “That lets me plan ahead for budget purposes, and even creates some flexibility. Some capital costs and incentives have changed over time, but because the plan was done early and is so detailed, we can adjust when we need to.”
Tudose’s first project involved a complete lighting redesign for Thomas Haney Secondary, which involved updating bulbs and fixtures, and in some cases, removing fixtures altogether from areas that were overlit. The project resulted in more than one million kilowatt hours of energy saved, and more than $100,000 in annual energy cost savings. It also provided an opportunity to conduct a student workshop about the purpose of the project.
Student engagement with conservation continues to evolve over at School District 36 (Surrey). The Energy Conservation Cup – a competition between schools – started off as a one-week-long energy-savings initiative, says manager, Energy Management & Sustainability, Tracy Blagdon. In its seventh year, it now extends through an entire month, and incorporates a wide variety of conservation ideas.
“We provide a tool kit with pre-planned activities, posters, PA announcements and an option to design your own green campaign,” Blagdon says. “I found it was often the same group of committed students stepping up to run projects. This year, we want to challenge them to engage in outreach to get others involved.”
It’s a microcosm of how Blagdon and many energy managers operate. The Surrey school district has specific goals in its five-year plan: To reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by the year 2020 (compared to its 2010 baseline), and to have every site participate in at least one conservation project. Persuasion, outreach and co-operation are key – ordering people to take part would never be successful in the long run.
Having a strategic energy management plan already in place smoothes the way. Blagdon can point to specific areas where incorporating energy efficiency will be mutually beneficial by improving learning conditions for students, saving money or decreasing how much maintenance is required for a facility. It also allows for integrated planning as the rapidly growing district moves ahead with building new schools and retrofitting existing ones.
The energy management assessment process available through BC Hydro helps identify priorities for all of the different project possibilities, and helps keep all of the different parts of the organization involved in energy management, Blagdon says.
BC Hydro’s support tools have been a helpful foundation for the district’s planning efforts, says Ron Macdonald, manager, Energy and Sustainability for School District 39 (Vancouver). He’s built on their planning spreadsheets and uses the MyHydro tool regularly. It tracks energy usage in increments as small as five minutes, which can help explain what may be happening when power consumption is higher than expected.
“If there’s an anomaly, I can look at the daily data for the details,” Macdonald says. “It could be that something is not turning off on a weekend, or not working properly. You could find all sorts of useful information if you really dug down.”
Macdonald agrees with Blagdon and Tudose about how important a strategic energy management plan (SEMP) is for success. In addition to creating a longterm focus – which can be a challenge when budgeting occurs on a year-to-year basis – it places a high priority on communication throughout a large organization.
The current plan in Vancouver is still focused on infrastructure, with plans to work on behavioural change in the next five-year plan. Using passive design principles – where natural features of a site are harnessed for heating and cooling, rather than equipment – is something Macdonald is enjoying. Window shades help with cooling, as does adjusting air intake locations for ventilation systems. During the summer, pulling in air from the shady side of a building would ease the demand on an air conditioning unit, while activating vents on the sunny side during the winter would mean less work for a boiler. The district has included a concept known as “earth tubes,” which sends air through underground tubes for some natural precooling, which decreases the amount of energy needed to artificially cool it.
For her part, Tudose says consulting people early on in the process of creating a SEMP allows them to pitch innovative ideas, voice their concerns and “buy in” to the general idea of energy management. She is also looking forward to potentially boosting energy efficiency education opportunities with students, which would align with curriculum requirements.
It comes as Tudose contemplates a highly personal learning and teaching opportunity of her own – preparing to welcome a baby girl to the world.
“I’m really happy I can bring her up in a space where we talk about issues like climate change and the environment, and about making a difference,” Tudose says. “It’s something I always think about when I go into schools and do presentations – that this is the generation we’re going to count on to do more good. It makes me that much prouder to do the work that I do.”
For a look at available resources or to see how your organization can get involved, contact your Key Account Manager, call 1-866-522-4713 or visit bchydro.com/business