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K-12 Schools Sustainability Strategy Collaborative Update

Added Energy Savings for Schools 

At the March K-12 Schools Sustainability Strategy Collaborative (SSSC) meeting Lorie Cosio-Azar of the City of San Diego presented the opportunity for all of San Diego County’s school districts to fast-track their planned Proposition 39 exterior lighting projects by “piggybacking” off the City’s currently active exterior lighting contract. The City of San Diego made sure to purchase some of the parking, campus, and wall-pack LED fixtures that are most common to school campuses so that our local schools may take advantage of their volume pricing and streamline the procurement process. Initial feedback from the San Diego County Office of Education Legal Department is that the school districts are eligible to piggyback all equipment that is covered in the City’s contract, but not the installation services. CleanTECH San Diego plans to collaborate with the County Office of Education to craft a new “piggyback clause” for K-12 schools to include in their new Prop 39 RFP’s and contracts, so that all other districts will be able to expedite their procurements for similar energy saving equipment.

Marty Turock represented the San Diego Region K-12 SSSC at a Prop 39 implementation strategy meeting hosted by the California Energy Commission and the USGBC’s Center for Green Schools in Sacramento. Marty was able to share insights into our collaborative process and best practices uncovered to date. Since the City of San Diego’s exterior lighting contract “piggyback clause” applies to public agencies statewide, this option was made available to K-12 schools attendees and stakeholders from across the state.

Energy Conservation Competition for Students

Two SDG&E third party program providers, PEAK and Strategic Energy Innovations, have launched a county-wide San Diego Schools Energy Conservation Competition. Students will capture energy data from their school’s smart meter and after establishing a baseline, develop and implement action plans to reduce energy consumption. The information will be captured in a simple energy dashboard that will establish public metrics to drive positive behavioral actions to augment any recently performed or planned energy conservation measures. The competition will run April 18 – May 8, 2014.