Students in a New Jersey School Work To Save Energy and Reduce Waste

An elementry school in New Jersey is competing with 13 other buildings to represent New Jersey in a national competition for energy efficiency.  Van Holtem Primary School is being monitored by EPA's measurement and tracking tools from online. Principle George Rauh says "We are committed to improving our energy efficiency and we look forward to seeing how we measure up against other buildings across the nation." 

Rauh says that since September of last year, they have saved over $10,000 in electricity, gas, water consumption and heating costs.   All they do is the basic tasks that all facilities should do like turning off the lights and water faucets, and finding ways to insulate and reduce heating costs.  Rauh contributes most of the efforts to a group of 4th graders called the School Energy Efficiency Squad.  Squad Member Julia Brickfield who is 10 checks the empty rooms for lights that haven't been turned off during her recess time.  She says "saving energy is more important than just going outside and playing.  We're doing something that really matters."  Rauh finds that sometimes he finds that the students are teaching the parents and staff about how to be efficient.