Wiggling

At this point, I have gathered a great deal of data and ideas about going green with educational facilities. I have found that a great deal of the information and ideas seem to be dreamworld ideas. For example, it would be wonderful to heat my schools using solely solar panels, but the reality is that A)we live in Minnesota and the amount of solar energy to heat the buildings would be hard to gather and B)the cost to convert our heating systems to solar would be a difficult investment to sell to a school board.

Another topic I am finding a lot about is energy conservation and management. I have been able to evalutate this idea using hard data from our school district. We began our energy management program began in 2004, and to date we have saved over 1.4 million dollars in energy. We have done that by diligently reminding staff to work on the energy saving strategies. We also employ an energy manager in our district, and his salary has paid for itself many times over with the money we have saved.

Next, I was able to explore another idea to help our district become more evironmentally friendly, and that is to gradually transform our heating systems to geothermal heat. All buildings are currently run with boilers except our high school, which is heated geothermally. I was able to view the cost analysis, and the emission reports from each of the schools. Our high school produces less emissions than the the other schools, and the heating system costs less to operate on an ongoing basis. However, due to the higher cost of installing this system, it took approximately ten years to break even when comparing higher cost of installation and savings of operation. This is still an exciting idea to look into however, as all of the boilers in our buildings are old and need a great deal of annual maintenance. Several of them will need replacements in the next ten years. Therefore, when investing for the long term future of the district, I am wondering if it will make sense to begin replacing them with a geothermal system. This is a great possibility, one that I think over time will be likely option.

Finally, the last option I have explored that might be a good possibility is a more aggressive recycling system in our district. Currently, we recycle paper and aluminum, but it is not enforced aggressively and the culture is not that of recycling. Teachers and staff tend to do a nice job of this, but student struggle. I have looked into the option of teaching a recycling unit to kindergartners and first graders, and the cost of this unit is almost zero if I am willing to put in some time to prepare the materials.

On another note, I am very excited about an efficiency study that is being done right now for the district. A company that we buy supplies from is looking into our cleaning process and developing an analysis of how many man hours each building should take to clean and maintain. This should help me reallocate resources if needed, and lead to cost savings and efficiency. I'm hoping that this savings will help free up budget for me to try some of these green ideas with my buildings.

Webbing

As I begin to gather information and answers to my inquiry, I am finding that there is so much to know and learn. It seems that a good plan would be to focus on a few ideas and pursue them. Another thing I have found to be a valuable thing to do is to network. Understanding who the experts are in each area is of a great value. I have found that when researching facility management and green facilities, I cannot put the pressure on myself to know everything. That is where the experts come in. In the realm of indoor air quality, I have met two representatives from the IEA, and educational health and safety organization. I have also met the president of the facilities management association, and will attend the next meeting of this group. Independently, I have been searching the web for more ways to make my buildings greener and healthier. Another resource I have explored is my staff. These individuals know these buildings well and understand where the waste is coming from. I will employ their help as this year's capital projects come to fruition. For example, we are looking into replacing some windows this summer. The staff in those buildings understand sun angles and heat concerns, and we can do our window work accordingly. Right now I am just gathering as much information as possible, while at the same time learning this new job. It has been overwhelming at times, but exciting as well. I look forward to learning more this week and beginning to apply some of what I am learning.

Watching

Today was my first day in my new position as Facilities Director. As I began to wade through my materials, I noticed there were several recurring duties that have documentation dating back dozens of years. Asbestos abatement, indoor air quality, and energy consumption are very large pieces of this job. All three relate to my topic as well, the first two for obvious health reasons, the third to help the district be more efficient and green. Having good air quality will also help the district become more environmentally friendly, because the heating, cooling, and ventilation systems would run more efficiently using less energy.

Another observation I am making is that this district is already making some considerable efforts to be be more energy efficient and environmentally friendly. For example, an energy manager is employed to help buildings use energy with less waste. Second, each room is equipped with recycling cans, encouraging students and staff to recycle whenever possible. Finally, we already work on turning lights off when rooms are not being used, and having the heat down when buildings are unoccupied. I look forward to exploring more ways to save energy and be environmentally friendly, but it looks like this district is on the right track.

Wondering

While I have been thinking about how to bring school's into a greener age, I have been brainstorming several things I will want to explore. First, I considered energy conservation. Lights off, heat low, pop machines off, etc. These are all great ideas, and do work to help save energy and dollars for a district. However, what does this cost students and staff? Can staff work in a 60 degree building? Or students learn in a building that is cold? The compromise that many districts seem to have reached is comfort for students, but staff will potentially not find heat up on weekends and lights on in the evening. Is it the best option, not sure, but seems to be a popular model.

Next, I thought about waste. Wow, a lot of garbage gets sent out of just the school I work in. Especially the lunchroom, napkins, plastic silverware, ramekins and small dishes being thrown out everyday. So I was thinking about ways to minimize some of the plastic waste going out of the schools. One of the options I thought of using more "real" silverware and dishes and washing them. True, more work for the kitchen staff, but certainly less garbage. Hard to balance the values, as it might cost more to pay the staff, and our garbage cost may be fixed. But, the overall impact may be of greater value. Interesting things to balance.

For the final thought for tonight, I was thinking about different ways to surface the exterior of buildings. The traditional brick exteriors are very porous, therefore air and moisture are always seeping in and out. Is there a way to surface the brick to help keep some of this air in? Or moisture out? I know of some paint and moisture blockers, but most are very short lived.

As I begin my research, these are just some of the thoughts that have been reoccuring. I look forward to finding the answers out to some of these questions.