Every Scott County school now certified ENERGY STAR
GEORGETOWN, Ky. (Dec. 2, 2014) — First Lady Jane Beshear today recognized Scott County’s Lemons Mill Elementary School and Western Elementary School for earning the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ENERGY STAR, a national symbol for protecting the environment through superior energy performance. Every school in the Scott County School District is now certified ENERGY STAR.
“We’re here today to recognize not only the great successes of Lemons Mill Elementary and Western Elementary, but to celebrate this important district-wide milestone,” Mrs. Beshear said. “Five years ago, Scott County made a commitment to improve energy performance by managing energy strategically and making cost-effective improvements in all of its 14 schools. I am proud to announce they have reached that goal and Scott County is the largest district in Kentucky to have all of its schools certified ENERGY STAR.”
The newly constructed Lemons Mill was designed and constructed with high performance school components including LED lighting, insulated concrete form exterior walls and heavily insulated roofing materials. The school’s energy efficient HVAC system is also a top-of-the-line energy efficient system, with an automated logic control system to allow temperature setbacks during nights, weekends and holidays when the school is not in session. The energy efficiency of Lemons Mill ranks in the top five percent nationally with an ENERGY STAR score of 95.
Western was recently renovated to achieve greater energy efficiency by upgrading and retrofitting lighting and temperature features throughout the school’s campus. Lighting in the gym and cafeteria was converted to highly efficient LED lights and a new HVAC system was installed to allow temperature reductions when school is not in session. Additionally, digital timers on the outside parking lights were installed to further reduce energy costs by monitoring and controlling outdoor lighting. Originally constructed in 1991, Western earned an ENERGY STAR score of 78.
Energy usage reductions of more than 10 percent district-wide have saved more than $980,000 between 2010 and 2014. The Scott County School District is also ranked as the fifth most energy efficient district in the state, according to the 2014 Energy Management Report, recently released by the Kentucky School Boards Association.
Kentucky is currently home to 267 ENERGY STAR K-12 school buildings, compared to only 12 in 2008, and ranks fourth in the nation with the number of ENERGY STAR schools compared to states of similar size. A building that scores a 75 or higher on EPA’s 1-100 scale is eligible for ENERGY STAR certification.
Add Comment