Change Who Changes theLightbulb: Building an Efficiency Ethic at School

Karen D. Anderson, Alliance to Save Energy
Janet A. Castellini, Castle Education, Inc.

Keywords

Abstract

In the Green Schools program, teams of students, teachers, custodians and administrators plan and implement a school energy efficiency program that combines instruction, changes in operations and behavior, and involvement of the whole school. Educating kids and saving energy are the program’s twin goals, but participating schools reported that in addition, they were functioning better as communities. Before, teachers and custodians, ifnot adversaries, operated in separate spheres. As team members, however, they interacted and began to share responsibility for building energy use. This paper suggests that involving only one element of the school population—say, just administrators or just teachers—in energy efficiency will not be as effective or sustainable as a more comprehensive approach. The “learned group experience” of Green Schools results in fundamental organizational change. Significant and measurable energy conserving behaviors do occur, but in the long run, lasting change in relationships among school personnel may be even more important.