Northwest Pennsylvania Collegiate Academy - Erie, PA

Briefly describe 3 projects your organization has undertaken during the 2011 ENERGY STAR National Building Competition to improve your building’s energy efficiency.

The Collegiate Academy Green Team is redesigning a dollhouse to implement energy-saving measures such as solar panels, composting, low flow shower heads, and a green roof. The dollhouse will feature a scavenger hunt in which students can search for green design fixtures.

The team conducted a jeopardy game during lunches to raise awareness about environmental issues. Five teams competed for prizes, such as CFLs. The categories included Renewable and Nonrenewable Resources, Energy Conservation, Energy Usage in Countries, Units of Measure, and Climate Change.

A Student Action Committee has been formed. Student leaders have recruited one or two students from each homeroom class to be “energy watchdogs” and communicate messages from the Green Team to the school.

How has the 2011 ENERGY STAR National Building Competition made a difference in your organization’s efforts to save energy?

In large part to the efforts of the Collegiate Green Team, the building's energy efficiency has improved greatly, and the school recently achieved an ENERGY STAR score of 75 out of a possible 100 in Portfolio Manager. Not only has the Green Team helped improve their own building, they’ve also brought the message to other schools, performing energy audits and teaching about the importance of energy conservation.

Briefly describe ways you have engaged your community in your efforts during the 2011 ENERGY STAR National Building Competition (e.g. events, posters, signs, contests, open houses, web forums, etc).

The Erie School District (ESD) has created an energy plan, with Collegiate Academy as a model, which will be implemented in the fall of 2011. The E2 Plan will fund two committees, energy management and education, that will investigate the infrastructure and usage of building equipment, and develop an energy audit curriculum to be integrated into the science classes at all of the district’s 21 schools. The energy committee consists of ESD personnel, Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Green Building Alliance representatives, and two local business community partners. The education committee will also design a competition between the 15 elementary schools, modeled after EPA’s National Building Competition.

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