CVUSD recognized for its environmental excellence

Castro Valley Unified School District was recognized for its effort in helping the environment last December, when it received an environmental excellence award from a national energy conservation program, Cenergistic.
“The district received the award for achieving sufficient savings with its district-wide energy-efficient behavior,” said the Ray Villegas, the district’s energy educator.
The district avoided 16 percent of public utilities costs over 40 months with its alliance with Cenergistic, with a total savings of $690,000.
One of Villegas’ jobs is to go to Castro Valley schools to see if school district members are following energy saving guidelines, like fully shutting down classrooms over holidays and seeing if light timers and thermostats are energy efficient. He also checks to see if any of the energy saving sensors need to be repaired, and tracks the district’s energy consumption.
According to Villegas, “Environmental Excellence” doesn’t just mean turning off the lights after a teacher leaves the classroom for the day.
“‘Environmental Excellence’ means the members of the CVUSD are aware and practice energy reduction on our school sites, lessen our carbon footprint on the plant, and work as a team to contribute to the environment in a positive manner,” said Villegas.
CVHS students can help the cause for environmental excellence as well as teachers and administration. Turning off faucets after using them and shutting down computers when finished can can add to the 16 percent of saved district money.
The CVUSD Energy Program has active members that can help improve the program by convincing colleagues who don’t conserve energy to start getting involved. Students can help the program by appreciating its members who are at CVHS every day.
“Tell your teachers, office personnel and administrators thank you for being members of the Energy Program,” said Villegas.