Incentives for energy conservation in schools

Abstract School district energy conservation programmes that offer teachers, students and/or maintenance staff a share of the money saved have been found in isolated cases to be an effective approach to increasing energy efficiency. Despite millions of dollars of reported savings for several of the school districts, this type of incentive-based effort is not widely known or utilized. A national survey by the authors uncovered less than 10 viable programmes. Two issues seem to contribute to this low saturation: low awareness among school district personnel regarding the benefits of an incentive programme, and recognized difficulties in starting up a programme. This paper explains the issues involved in establishing and maintaining an incentive-based approach. Comparisons of the different programmes were made to reveal common problems encountered and to determine what characteristics led to a successful initiative. From our review, it appears that the most important component of a successful programme is the existence of a key individual willing and able to direct the effort at the district level.