In celebration of Green Apple Day of Service, local NORESCO employees partnered with Boston Public Schools to bring energy conservation, appliance energy usage and building energy technologies to life with an engaging hands-on energy audit. It was a natural fit to conduct the walk through energy audit with Facilities Management students at Madison Park Vocational Technical High School. Noresco energy engineers worked with Phoebe Beierle, Sustainability Manager at BPS, and Perino Watson and Matt Zajak, teachers at Madison Park, to develop an appropriate energy curriculum for the students that was complete with an audit worksheet, solar mapping tool and high-tech diagnostic equipment.
While the Facilities Management students already understood a lot about energy, to make a kill-a-watt-hour (our measurement of electricity) mean something, students used watt meters to measure electricity consumption of appliances and power tools in their classroom. It was eye opening for everyone when they saw how much energy a power sander or table saw requires! Using the data they collected on how much one projector or computer uses per hour, students can now estimate how much energy is being throughout the entire school and how much this costs each year!
Once the students had measured most of the appliances that had a plug, the group embarked on a more in-depth building audit, including stops at the boiler room, roof mechanical equipment, hallways and more. Students carried infrared cameras and temperature readers with them to evaluate the temperature of different pipes, fans, pumps, etc. The students discovered that the insulated hot water pipes were warmer than the un insulated pipes in the basement. By looking around, asking questions about why things are designed certain ways and using diagnostic tools, the students got a taste of what it’s like to be a professional energy auditor. They also learned a lot about their building and where there are opportunities to save!
The energy investigation at Madison Park work won’t stop after Green Apple Day. The Facilities Management students will take what they learned and engage other students and staff in the building to save energy as part of the District’s Energy Conservation Challenge. During this challenge, Madison Park will strive to reduce electricity consumption by at least 5%, and in return earn 50% of the savings back! In addition, some seniors in the Facilities Management class will partner with BPS Facilities Management Department to inventory lighting systems and upgrade old lights to new, LED bulbs, further saving Madison Park money and making their school more sustainable for years to come.
United Technologies Corp. (UTC), a founding sponsor of the U.S. Green Building Council's Center for Green Schools, encouraged their employees worldwide to lead events for the Green Apple Day of Service this past weekend. UTC's 2015 Service events for the fall season were kicked off in Shanghai by employees from Carrier, Otis, Sigma, Chubb, GST and UTC Aerospace Systems. The volunteers renovated classrooms at the Qingpu Yinxian Primary School and created a library corner with learning materials emphasizing environmental stewardship. Projects in the United States included working with students to build bird feeders using recycled materials in Connecticut to planting a garden and teaching students the benefits of healthy eating and sustainable food production in Florida.
“UTC's steadfast commitment to the green schools movement is best exemplified by their annual participation in Green Apple Day of Service,” said Rachel Gutter, director, Center for Green Schools, U.S. Green Building Council. “Since we launched the event in 2012, hundreds of UTC employees have dedicated their time to organize and lead high-impact school transformation projects throughout the communities in which they live and serve. By acting on the shared belief that where our students learn matters, UTC leadership on Green Apple Day of Service has accelerated our progress toward providing safer, healthier, more efficient learning environments for all students within this generation.”
This coming week NORESCO, a part of UTC, will lead students in an energy audit at Boston Public School's Madison Park Technical Vocational High School, as part of the USGBC's Massachusetts chapter's largest Green Apple Day of Service event in our chapter's history.
Greetings,
We want your project to shine at the Showcase! Register your green building to show off at this event on 10/1/15 at Harvard. You could win an award! The “early bird registration” ends tomorrow: Sign up for the event at this link. This is our biggest event of the year and always an incredible mix of professions, all passionate about building performance.
We are excited for the participation of our Showcase Sponsors: Harvard University Green Building Services, National Grid, Suffolk Construction, Skanska, View Glass, SemaConnect, Touloukian Touloukian, The Green Engineer, Chapman Construction, Tsoi/Kobus, Prellwitz Chilinski, Arrowstreet, RDK Engineering. (And how about your firm?)
Consider entering your awesome project in our Green Building Awards: for Innovation in Green Design and Exemplary Building Performance.
Starting later this month is our series of school-based service projects in theGreen Apple Day of Service. Thank you to our generous mini-grant sponsors: National Grid, Eversource, Boston Properties, NORESCO, Triumph Modular, TOTO, Re-Stream, ICF & HMFH! You can find a project and sign up to volunteer at the My Green Apple website – enter your zip code to search.
Please explore our events and gatherings opportunities below. These will help grow your professional network and are always time well spent.
As we transform the real estate market for improved environmental performance, we help bring our communities closer to sustainability.
