Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) was among 143 businesses and organizations honored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as an ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year on Wednesday, April 26th, at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, D.C.

2016 

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 LCPS Earns EPA’s ENERGY STAR® Sustained Excellence Award  

 

 

 

Each year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) honors a select group of organizations that have made outstanding contributions to protecting the environment through superior energy efficiency.  The 2016 ENERGY STAR Award Winners lead the way with the development and adoption of world-class strategies that provide substantial energy and money savings in the buildings where we live and work. The winners were chosen from a vast network of over 16,000 ENERGY STAR partners.

 

LCPS was awarded the 2016 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year - Sustained Excellence Award for Energy Management.  This is the highest honor that the Federal government can bestow upon an organization to recognize their accomplishments in energy efficiency and conservation.  The award requires that partners demonstrate improved energy performance of buildings through a corporate-wide energy program.  LCPS is one of only seven school districts in the nation to earn the 2016 Sustained Excellence Award. The other school systems that won the 2016 award were:

 

Des Moines Public Schools (Des Moines, IA) 

Evergreen Public Schools (Vancouver, WA) 

Gresham-Barlow School District (Gresham, OR)  

Mansfield Independent School District (Mansfield, TX)  

Scott County Schools (Georgetown, KY)  

The Kenton County School District (Ft. Wright, KY) 

 

VIEW THE 2016 APPLICATION                                    VIEW THE 2016 SUPPLEMENTAL

 

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 2015 

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2014

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Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) has received its second ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year - Sustained Excellence award from the US Environmental Protection Agency.  This award is given to a select group of organizations that have exhibited outstanding leadership year after year. These winners have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by setting and achieving aggressive goals and employing innovative energy efficiency approaches. The award recognizes ongoing leadership across the ENERGY STAR program, including energy-efficient products, services, new homes and buildings in the commercial, industrial and public sectors. Award winners are selected from the nearly 20,000 organizations that participate in the ENERGY STAR program.

In the 20 year history of the ENERGY STAR program, and out of the nearly 20,000 ENERGY STAR partnerships, only 70 organizations have ever earned the Partner of the Year - Sustained Excellence Award.  In the category of Public School Districts, LCPS is one of only three districts to have won this award.  The other two districts are:  Evergreen Public Schools located in Vancouver, Washington and Gresham-Barlow School District located in Gresham, Oregon. 

• Benchmarking district facilities in Portfolio Manager, EPA’s ENERGY STAR measurement and tracking tool, and earning a 2012 ENERGY STAR certification for 42 district facilities.
• Achieving recognition as an ENERGY STAR Top Performer.
• Earning Designed to Earn the ENERGY STAR designation for six schools: Lunsford Middle School, Douglas Elementary School, Champe High School, Discovery Elementary School, Moorefield Station Elementary School, and Trailside Middle School.
• Encouraging regional use of the Master Account Sharing feature in Portfolio Manager through speaking events and presentations promoting the tool. LCPS’s efforts have been influential in regional decisions to use this feature.
• Saving more than $47 million and preventing the emissions of more than 265,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide over the past 19 years.

 

Loudoun County Public Schools received the ENERGY STAR Sustained Excellence Award, the highest honor presented by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the United States Department of Energy, on Thursday, March 15th, in Washington, D.C.

The awards ceremony, held at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, marked the 20th anniversary of the ENERGY STAR program.

“Two decades ago, the EPA had a bold vision,” EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson told those being honored. “We wanted to harness the energy of our economy and the forces of the market to encourage energy efficiency and prevent pollution. We saw an opportunity to harness market forces that would encourage consumers and companies to invest in cleaner, more innovative, more energy-efficient products.”

Jackson said ENERGY STAR is one of the most successful market-based programs the federal government has ever undertaken. More than 80 percent of Americans recognize the blue ENERGY STAR logo, which makes it one of the most recognizable brands in the country.

“The other 20 percent we’re working on.”

The logo can be found on products in more than 60 different categories, Jackson noted. More than a million homes have the ENERGY STAR label.

 “The continued success of this program shows that we can protect our environment and strengthen our economy at the same time.”

Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) was in good company in receiving the Sustained Excellence Award. Others receiving this recognition included Merck & Co., Inc.; Nissan North America, Inc.; Raytheon Company; Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing; J.C. Penney Company, Inc.; Food Lion; Kohl’s Department Store, Inc.; Lowe’s Companies, Inc.; and G.E. Appliances & Lighting.

Only two other school districts – Evergreen Public Schools in Vancouver, Wash., and Gresham-Barlow School District in Gresham, Ore. – received the Sustained Excellence Award.

LCPS had been named an ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year in 2010 and 2011.
LCPS undertook a comprehensive energy management program in 1993. Since that time the school district has:

• Documented savings of more than $43.9 million in energy costs and has prevented the emission of more than 780,000 metric tons of CO2.
• Earned the 2009 ENERGY STAR Leader recognition for leadership in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and having a 10 percent overall improvement in energy performance across all of its buildings.
• Won first place in the 2011 Virginia School Boards Association (VSBA) Green Schools Challenge for school districts with a student population of 10,000 and up.
• LCPS has earned 106 ENERGY STAR labels at 42 different buildings. The ENERGY STAR is the mark of superior energy performance. It identifies a building as one the top 25 percent most efficient buildings of its kind in the nation. More than 45 percent of LCPS buildings have received an ENERGY STAR label.
• Implemented a recycling program at all sites it owns or operates. The recycling program includes cardboard, white paper, colored paper, paper board, newspaper, aluminum and bi-metal cans and plastic bottles. Throughout the course of this program, more than 1,800 tons of materials have been recycled. 
• Earned the 2010 Construction Owners Association of America Silver Project Leadership Award for Tuscarora High School.
• Earned the Energy Education Lighthouse Award, which recognizes a successfully sustained Transformational Energy Management program over a number of years.

 

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The ENERGY STAR is the national symbol for protecting the environment through energy efficiency. The 2011 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year award recognizes organizations that have made outstanding contributions to protecting the environment through energy efficiency and conservation. Receiving the award for a second consecutive year is an indication of LCPS's sincere commitment to continued improvement to existing energy reduction efforts.

“Loudoun County Public Schools is pleased to accept EPA's ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year award in recognition of our energy use reduction efforts,” said LCPS Assistant Superintendant for Support Services Jeffery Platenberg, “Through this achievement, we have demonstrated a sustained commitment to environmental and fiscal stewardship.”

Commercial buildings that earn the ENERGY STAR use an average of 35 percent less energy than typical buildings and also release 35 percent less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In 2010 alone, LCPS has prevented greenhouse gas emissions equal to removing over 14,100 automobiles from the road for a year.

To earn the 2011 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Award for the second year, LCPS successfully continued its focus on the wise use of energy throughout the school system. Technologies LCPS utilizes include variable frequency drives, multi-zone HVAC and lighting capability, lighting retrofits and high-efficiency boiler/chiller system installations.

36 Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) buildings were awarded the EPA's ENERGY STAR label in 2010. Among the honored facilities was Middleburg Elementary (opened 1911), the oldest of LCPS' 79 schools.

The number of LCPS facilities honored by ENERGY STAR has grown consistently. In 2008, six schools and one support office were honored. That grew to 23 schools and one support office in 2009.

The keynote speaker for the awards banquet was EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson.

“We can make environmental gains in a way that promotes innovation that cuts costs that boosts our economy,” said Jackson. “...The choice between a green economy and a green environment is a false choice...

“The true strength of ENERGY STAR is how it closes the gap between these two seemingly intractable ideas...ENERGY STAR uses government standards to reward the market-based drivers of our economy, our capacity for innovation and invention.”

Other organizations that were named ENERGY STAR partners of the year include Sunoco, Panasonic, the city of Louisville, Ky., Kimberly-Clark, Kohl's Department Stores and Canon U.S.A.

Earlier in the day, Platenberg, LCPS Director of Construction Kevin Lewis and energy education specialists Michael Barancewicz and John Lord met with U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.) at the Capitol.

Loudoun County Public Schools has partnered with Energy Education, a Dallas-based energy-management firm, since 1993. Through this partnership the school system has generated a savings of more than $34.4 million in cost avoidance. Only two other school districts associated with Energy Education have won the ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Award (Kingston City, N.Y., Schools in 2001 and Whitefish Bay, Wis., Schools in 2009).

ENERGY STAR was introduced by the EPA in 1992 as a voluntary market-based partnership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through increased energy efficiency. Today, ENERGY STAR offers businesses and consumers energy-efficient solutions to save energy, money and help protect the environment for future generations. Last year alone Americans, with the help of ENERGY STAR, saved $17 billion on their energy bills and reduced greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those of 30 million vehicles.