News Release
November 16, 2007
Olathe School District receives Governor's Energy Award
The Olathe School District received the Governor's Energy Recognition Award in Energy Efficiency at the Kansas Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Conference held in Topeka.
The Olathe School District's Energy Program began 15 years ago. During that time, the amount of conditioned space doubled, from 2 million square feet to 4 million square feet, as 21 new buildings were added, plus additions to existing buildings.
While the District's conditioned space increased 100 percent, electric consumption only increased 45 percent and natural gas consumption only increased 2 percent during this time period. The impact of the energy efficiency and conservation measures in saved energy is equal to removing 39,000 cars from the road or planting over 81,000 acres of trees.
The energy program includes the following:
- Random building audits
- Detailed tracking of energy consumption based on Board of Education guidelines
- Monitoring of equipment efficiency
- Retrofit upgrades for existing buildings with low energy efficiency
- Efficient design for new buildings
- Verification of utility bills for accuracy
- Energy education for students and staff
The District also participates in a natural gas transportation consortium which it was instrumental in initiating. The District constantly researches possible renewable energy applications, including a recently completed solar and wind project.
The Olathe School District was recently notified that five of its buildings received the Energy Star Award from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for demonstrating superior energy performance.