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Las Cruces Schools Work To Save Energy

By KRWG News

Las Cruces – The LCPS Energy Education Program "saved big bucks on electricity and natural gas throughout the entire school district during the month of December 2010," said LCPS Energy Education Specialist Jim Mulhauser.

Led by Las Cruces High School, which saved more than $10,000 on electricity and just short of $3,000 on natural gas during the month of December, LCPS "saved a whopping $73,652.22 district wide on these two utilities alone," said Mulhauser.

"The Energy Ed Program recognizes all our dedicated administrators and staff members at every single building for their support of this new initiative and their hard work to make it succeed," he said. "The savings we collectively generated are a testament to the incredible job staff did buttoning up classrooms, offices, work spaces and buildings during the winter break," he said.

The LCPS Energy Education program began last July, and is expected to save the school district about $10 million over the next 14 years.

During visits to school buildings at five different times in a 24-hour period (including very late nights and very early mornings), and using state-of-the-art tools to measure temperature, humidity and light use, Mulhauser and fellow Energy Education Specialist Sean Barham find equipment running when it doesn't need to be or not operating properly or efficiently. They are looking at everything in the school district that uses energy and try to come up with a management plan for its optimum use. And, they also are working with staff and students to educate them about being more energy efficient. LCPS has 47 total properties that include about 3.5 million square feet.

"Our goal is to generate $1 million of savings this fiscal year, and through everyone's efforts and our energy conservation program, we can accomplish it," said LCPS Associate Superintendent for Operations Herb Torres. "This is revenue that can be re-directed to help with educational programs," he said.