Faculty and staff at Asbury Park Public Schools have chalked up over $900,000 worth of good behavior. Their energy-efficient practices have earned big savings — and now those good habits are earning the organization national recognition.
Asbury Park Public Schools has achieved $967,345 in cost savings in 48 months since forming a strategic alliance with Cenergistic, a national energy conservation company, which presented its Energy Excellence Award during a recent meeting of the school board.
“Reaching this savings mark is a significant milestone. Asbury Park Public Schools has achieved success by consistently implementing the organizational behavior-based approach to energy conservation and maintaining productive efforts at all levels of the organization. The Superintendent and board, along with other administration, faculty and staff members are to be commended for clearly fulfilling their commitment to being good stewards of the taxpayers’ money and the environment,” said Dr. William S. Spears, chairman and founder of Cenergistic.
“Strong support from Superintendent (Lamont) Repollet and the board have created an atmosphere of cooperation that should continue to grow and ensure even greater success well into the future,” Dr. Spears said. “I am extremely pleased to present Asbury Park Public Schools with our Energy Excellence Award. The district joins a very committed group of organizations across the country working hard to achieve energy savings so the dollars saved can be redirected to educational needs,” said Dr. Spears.
“This is an example of what can be achieved when stakeholders at every level take energy conservation seriously,” added Asbury Park Superintendent Dr. Lamont Repollet.
A key benefit of the Cenergistic program is that all costs come out of the existing utility budget, with savings projected to more than pay for the program, as they have done for Asbury Park Public Schools. Additional savings can be redirected to other parts of the budget. Many organizations credit the program with helping keep personnel and programs that would otherwise have fallen victim to budget cuts — a very real concern with today’s school funding crisis.
As part of the program, Energy Specialist Walter Sosa tracks energy consumption — including electricity, water, sewer, natural gas and fuel oil — using energy-accounting software. He compares current energy use to a baseline period and calculates the amount of energy that would have been used had conservation and management practices not been implemented. By tracking consumption and analyzing energy use, he can quickly identify and correct areas that need immediate attention.
