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West Allis - West Milwaukee School District

West Allis, Wisconsin
20% Improvement (2007)
Top Performer (2007)
Top Performer (2008)

The West Allis-West Milwaukee School District is the 13th largest in Wisconsin. It consists of 9,000 students, 600 staff, 17 schools, and more than 1.7 million square feet of space. By successfully meeting its goal to increase energy efficiency by 25 percent since the 2003-2004 school year, the district has saved more than 15 million kilowatt hours of electricity, 1.1 million therms of natural gas, and 25 million gallons of water; prevented 16,500 tons of CO₂ emissions; and avoided more than $2.9 million in utility costs.

The District became an ENERGY STAR partner in 2007, and has been recognized as an ENERGY STAR Leader with a 24 percent improvement and twice for an average portfolio rating of 75 or better. Ten district schools earned the ENERGY STAR 2007, and 11 were rated in 2008 despite an average building age of 60 years for the district.

In 2004, the district began working with Energy Education, Inc. to help implement a district wide behavior-based energy conservation program and create an "energy ethic. Several innovative gym lighting retrofits have replaced hundreds of 400-watt HID lights with 150-watt CFLs that make use of the higher scotopic lumens. Overall, the district has converted more than 75 percent of all light fixtures to scotopic lights while harvesting a tremendous energy saving benefit. There have been health benefits for students and staff as well including fewer light-induced staff migraine headaches and better visual acuity. Some students are even growing vegetables in their classrooms.