TOPEKA – Wednesday, October 7 is Kansas Energy Efficiency Day. Governor Laura Kelly signed a proclamation joining hundreds of state and local governments in a national day of awareness about the benefits of energy efficiency.

In conjunction with Energy Efficiency Day, the Kansas Corporation Commission is promoting a new K-12 education program that teaches students the necessary data collecting and analytical skills to help their schools lower energy costs.

Nationwide, schools spend billions of dollars each year on energy. It is the second largest budget item after personnel costs. The new K-12 Benchmarking program offers teachers an all-inclusive energy efficiency curriculum that includes professional equipment and guidance from energy experts – all at no cost to the school. The curriculum meets Next Generation Science Standards and can be adapted for students of various grade levels.

The KCC is collaborating with Kansas State University Engineering Extension to implement the program. Funding is provided by a U.S. Department of Energy grant.

Participating schools will form an energy team to benchmark and understand the school’s energy use. The next step is to conduct an energy efficiency treasure hunt using professional energy auditing equipment to look for ways to reduce energy loss and save money. Those findings lead to an energy efficiency campaign within the school followed by measuring cost reductions.

More information, including a video explaining the program, is available on the KCC’s website at https://kcc.ks.gov/energy-education/teachers.