PRINCETON: PDS students savor energy savings prize

By Greg Forester, Staff Writer
   Successfully reducing campus electricity use by more than 22 percent in February has earned the Princeton Day School with the grand prize in a national contest to see which U.S. schools can slash their energy consumption.
   Princeton Day School’s first place award came in the National Green Cup Challenge, an annual competition that challenges students, staff, and faculty at U.S. schools to come up with methods to cut energy use at their institutions.
   The Princeton private school competed against 46 other schools in similar climates, and won the top award with a 22.09-percent reduction in the total amount of electricity used, as compared to the total in February 2008.
   The electricity saved amounts to 40,000 kilowatt-hours or a $5,600 reduction in the school’s electric bill.
   The award announcement, made earlier this week, caused excitement on campus, where many students, staff, and others participated in the effort, which involved students at all grade levels and the production of a YouTube video.
   Lower School students volunteered to become “Special 00Green Agents” — anonymous guards assigned with keeping an eye out for open windows and other wasteful practices, like leaving lights on in vacant classrooms and restrooms, according to Michelle Ruess, the school’s communication director.
   Students in the Middle School, grades 5 through 8, volunteered to so similar activities, while the Upper School’s EnAct club, with EnAct standing for environmental action, took on the same responsibilities for their classmates.
   Students weren’t the only participants, however.
   School information technology personnel agreed to shut down unused computers and change settings on others, so the machines could go into energy-saving “sleep” mode as often as possible.
   In the event of a sunny day, some teachers went as far as turning off classroom lights and teaching using the light from the sun.
   Janitors, who usually turn on all lights in the school during nighttime cleanings, changed their methods as well, by devising a new system to distinguish between which rooms needed cleaning and those that had already been cleaned.
   Princeton Day School’s dining services took part.
   The kitchen staff turned off lights in walk-freezers instead of the usual practice of day-long illumination. Flat screen televisions, which use large amounts of electricity, were turned off in the school’s fitness center. Lights in unused sections of the library were turned off as well, according to Ms. Reuss, who said the award was a victory for the entire school.
   ”We are the national winner, which is very, very cool,” Ms. Ruess said.
   Liz Cutler, an English teacher and the school’s sustainability coordinator, oversaw the school’s involvement in the challenge.
   Ms. Cutlersaid the school’s involvement in the challenge would benefit awareness and help the school ramp up efforts to become more sustainable.
   ”We’re thrilled because it really helps move the initiative,” said Ms. Cutler, who is the founding director Organizing Action on Sustainability in Schools consortium of 17 Princeton-area schools.
   Princeton Day School also won an award for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in a concurrent challenge, school officials said.