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SALT LAKE CITY -- Teachers and educators heading home for the summer are being asked to unplug everything. It could end up saving their jobs.
Chargers, pencil sharpeners, computers, lights, mini-fridges and boilers -- leaving them on can add up, and this is a time of tight budgets.
Salt Lake School District executive director of auxiliary services, Steve Woods, says they started making tiny changes in the winter. "Turning off lights is so minimal, but when you turn off every light in every building that isn't occupied in the Salt Lake School District, it adds up," he said.
Woods says every department, from transportation to construction, has found ways to save. The entire district closes down on Fridays during the summer break to save costs, too.
"We looked at when we turn our boilers on and off. Can we turn them off 15 minutes earlier in the day? We looked at our air conditioners, when do we run them, when do we need to run them? If you add up those nickels and dimes, sometimes it adds up to dollars," said Woods.
Murray School District Energy Education Manager Rock Boyer says they did so well last summer and over the Christmas break with saving money through saving energy, that they are going on a "full-out blitz" this summer.
Boyer sent out a newsletter reminding teachers to unplug everything from candle warmers to clocks. "We call them the vampire electronics," he says, meaning those little things you forget about that are using electricity.
But Wright and Boyer say they look at energy conservation the right way. "We will not compromise the working environment for teachers or children," Boyer said.
Boyer says they set a goal to save about a million dollars in four years, or 20 percent more a month, and they are well on their way: He says since August 2007, they have saved $405,000.
The much larger Granite District has saved $500,000 in six months through increased energy conservation. That money saved means no one has to be fired.
Boyer says $100,000 of the money saved through utilities has gone into the budget for teachers.
"We didn't have to do any teacher reductions, our class size didn't have to go up, and our children won't receive a less quality education for what we've done," said Woods.
E-mail: mrichards@ksl.com
