Maryland PowerSavers Challenge
Empower students to save energy and money for your school by participating in the Maryland PowerSavers Challenge.
Why save energy? Schools nationwide spend over $8 billion on energy, and in most schools energy costs are second only to personnel expenses. The US Department of Energy estimates that up to 25% of the energy in schools is wasted. Students engaged in energy savings projects not only learn STEM skills, but are empowered to solve a real world problem of escalating energy costs and environmental impacts.
Middle and high schools across Maryland are eligible to compete to reduce their energy use for a chance to win $1,000, an energy diagnostic toolkit and full day student energy audit training. They will also receive a “Behind the Scenes” tour during the USA Science and Engineering Expo on April 26.
Schools have two ways to win, either by:
- Collecting energy saving pledges
- Creating a winning energy efficiency outreach video.
Schools that do both double their chances of winning.
Each school that registers will receive access to competition resources that will teach students how to:
- Conduct an energy audit
- Come up with energy saving recommendations
- Create an energy saving pledge campaign and/or outreach video
Between February 16th and April 15th all participating schools collect the greatest number of kilowatt energy saving pledges and/or create the best outreach video. A template for the energy savings pledges is available online once schools register for the competition.
Participating schools also receive a free watt meter and access to two of the Alliance to Save Energy’s Flipped Classroom Lessons (Energy Basics and Energy Auditing). Schools can also request that a Lockheed Martin volunteer visit their school to help students audit their school or assist with a video.
Award categories are:
- The high school with the greatest number of kWh savings pledged
- The middle school with the greatest number of kWh savings pledged
- The winning high school outreach video
- The winning middle school outreach video
- The school with the highest pledged energy savings per student (This will be decided by dividing the total pledged energy savings by the number of students attending the school)
While schools may enter both categories, they may only win once.
To learn more about the Maryland PowerSavers Challenge and to register, please visit www.powersaverschallenge.org or contact Jennifer Alldredge, jalldredge@ase.org
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The Mid-Atlantic Sustainable School FieldScope (MASS-FS) project is ready for MD Green School Best Management Practices data to be entered. Although not required for the 2013-2014 application, this tool is a great resource for Green schools and will be required after this year. Guidance for adding data is provided in the Help section under the Data tab. UMCES has created a prep sheet to assist you with the process.
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MAEOE 2013/14 Green School and Green Center Application Guidelines are now available. If you are planning to apply to be a Maryland Green School or Recertify, please go to Green Schools for information on the application and the filing process. The 2013/2014 Green Center Application is available on the Green Center page.