Webinars Offer Energy-saving Solutions for Schools

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), in partnership with U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), invite school district officials, facilities managers, school administrators, teachers, and others interested in providing America's students with high-performing schools to view a series of online Webinars that offer innovative solutions for reducing energy costs in schools.

The Webinars showcase affordable and immediate solutions to reducing the skyrocketing costs of operating America's schools, according to a Nov. 5 press release.

"As New Yorkers head into winter, sky-high energy costs and the fallout from our country's current economic crisis will stretch our school budgets thin, and it is important to take steps now to improve the energy efficiency of our schools so that we can conserve our natural and financial resources," said Clinton. "I am proud to be working with the U.S. Green Building Council and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to offer our New York schools this educational series that outlines simple steps to help make our schools greener and more efficient. In conserving energy, we're not only helping the environment, we're saving extra dollars that can go toward additional resources to enrich our children's education."

The Energy Efficiency Strategies for Schools Webinars are sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and will be broadcast on:

• Dec. 3 – 1 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. EST: "Top 10 Low-Cost Ways to Lower Your School's Utility Bills."

• Jan. 21, 2009 – 1 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. EST: "Top 10 Investments to Lower Your School's Utility Bills."

To learn more and to register, visit www.usgbc.org/webinars.

"We are grateful to Senator Clinton for her leadership on this important and very real challenge, said Rick Fedrizzi, chief executive officer, president and founding chair, USGBC. "While we can't control the price of energy, we can take incremental, proactive steps to improve the energy efficiency of our school buildings, saving money on utility bills so we don't have to cut important educational programs and services just to keep the lights on."