The People.Power.Planet Challenge encourages students, teachers, and administrators to learn, act, and share practices that save energy and reduce waste in their schools. School Champions help students and staff by equipping them with the knowledge, tools, inspiration, and support to take action in their homes, schools, and communities. People will see first-hand how their actions and the actions of others can help to reduce their school’s environmental footprint. What’s more, these reductions add up to financial savings at each school. And even better, this helps schools pay for teachers and programs while reducing the school’s impact on the environment.
The U.S. Department of Energy reports that K-12 schools spend a staggering $6 billion on energy bills. In fact, more is spent on energy than textbooks and computers combined. In addition, up to 30% of energy used is unnecessary. So McKinstry, a national leader in smart building systems, developed the People.Power.Planet campaign to help reduce these costs. McKinstry is collaborating with school districts throughout America to significantly reduce the resources being consumed by our nation’s schools. As part of that effort, people (students, teachers, administrators, facility managers, and other community leaders) play an important role in helping to reduce waste and make buildings more efficient.
Energy and Carbon Savings
McKinstry keeps track of participating schools’ energy use through utility bills and meter data. A technical team enters, reviews, and analyzes the data using state-of-the-art energy management software, which then feeds the progress numbers to the People.Power.Planet website.
To increase energy and carbon savings at your school, everyone must do their part to conserve. Making small habit changes can have a huge impact on your school’s energy use. Check out the Take Action area to learn ways to save.
