Ocean Lakes High School saved a lot of energy this year – and it shows!
The school came in 139th place – out of the 3,300 buildings competing nationwide – in Energy Star’s Fourth Annual Battle of the Buildings contest. According to Energy Star, competitors measure and track their buildings’ monthly energy consumption and work over the year to cut energy waste through improvements that range from equipment replacement to changes in occupant behavior.
Among the Virginia entrants, Ocean Lakes was the second-ranked school, with more than 16 percent in energy savings. This led to an estimated $87,000 in avoided costs for the school division.
This year, three Virginia Beach schools competed in the contest. In addition to Ocean Lakes, Birdneck Elementary and Bayside Elementary took part in the competition. Each Virginia Beach school finished in the top third of the competition, with Bayside coming in 718th place and Birdneck placing 963rd. All totaled, the greenhouse gas equivalent of emissions prevented by these three schools’ conservation efforts was nearly 550 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.
As a division, Virginia Beach City Public Schools had a banner year, with 22 facilities earning the Energy Star designation in 2013, and 2,308,349 square feet of of Energy Star-rated space. This helped Virginia Beach recently earn recognition as having the fourth most Energy Star rated buildings among mid-sized cities in the United States.
Way to go, Ocean Lakes, and all the Battle of the Building entrants!