Tipp City, Ohio, April 22, 2014: Brad Neavin, Superintendent of Vandalia-Butler City Schools, is pleased to announce that the district is participating in a Straight A Fund collaborative with five other school districts and Energy Optimizers, USA, a Tipp City, Ohio, based company.
On Wednesday, April 23, a Vandalia-Butler student-led energy audit team will perform an audit of three district buildings as part of the grant program. The audit will begin at 9 a.m. at Butler High School, 600 S. Dixie Drive in Vandalia.
“The Straight A Fund grant will turn our schools into hands-on learning tools to educate students and staff about reducing energy costs,” said Neavin. “We’re excited to be part of this process and looking forward to hearing what the students report out.”
Governor Kasich’s concept for funding innovative educational projects through the “Straight A Fund Grant” is being funded through the State of Ohio from a $250 million budget in two rounds, with this project funded in Round 1. Energy Optimizers, USA, the Ohio Energy Project and administrators from Springfield-Clark Career Tech Center developed the project. This project will provide teachers with the tools they need to meet academic standards, provide districts with energy cost savings to drive dollars back into the classroom, encourage student engagement and empowerment, and improve lighting for a district special needs classroom.
Springfield-Clark CTC is the project champion, and several of their students have been hired and trained by Energy Optimizers, USA to do peer-to-peer training of students in the five local school districts, including Vandalia-Butler. Students are actively engaged in the energy audits of their school facilities. They will present their findings, including recommended energy conservation measures to save the district money, at the May 27 Board of Education meeting.
In addition to the educational energy audits, as part of this project, Energy Optimizers, USA will retrofit one special needs classroom per district with special classroom LED lighting, which is highly energy efficient. The company will also commission HVAC systems and building controls in the district facilities, which will result in energy savings. In the near future, each district will start a District Green Team of staff and students to implement energy education in each facility, utilizing curriculum that correlates to the Common Core Standards.
Brian Abels, Director of Engineering at Energy Optimizers, USA, has led the training of students in the educational energy audits of the buildings. He states, “The students have been actively
engaged in the audits and are excited about the savings that can be achieved. Not only are students learning about energy engineering and related savings, but we’re bringing in chemistry
and biology as we discuss compression cycle and thermodynamics. We’re also talking about how they will communicate their findings to the School Board. This project is making science, math, chemistry and biology “real” to the students and directly applicable to their school buildings.”
About Energy Optimizers, USA
Energy Optimizers, USA, based in Tipp City, Ohio, works with Ohio school districts and government agencies to implement energy savings opportunities to reduce operational costs, including lighting retrofits, renewable energy projects (wind and solar), HVAC retrofit projects, building automation retrofits and energy education programs. To learn more about Energy Optimizers, USA, visit their website at http://energyoptusa.com or call them at (937) 877-1919.
