MN Green Schools Coalition Energy Reduction challenge

1. MN Green Schools Coalition Energy Reduction challenge Green Team Leader Training

2. Welcome! Congratulations on joining the Energy Reduction Challenge (ERC)! • During this training we will cover: • General Information about the ERC • The ERC Scorecard • SEE Squads • Energy Awareness Materials

3. Part 1 GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE ENERGY REDUCTION CHALLENGE (erc)

4. General info Q. Who can participate in the ERC? A. The Energy Reduction Challenge is open to elementary schools in Minnesota. Each participating school will appoint one adult leader and a student Green Team to coordinate the challenge – that group will be responsible for getting your whole school (staff and students!) involved in saving energy.

5. General info Q. How long does the Energy Reduction Challenge last? A. The contest runs from the week of September 23rd - December 20th. We ask that you meet with your green team at least once every other week for 30 minutes to assign student tasks and check in on how they are doing with the scorecard and scavenger hunt. Report back to your ERC liaison about progress after each meeting!

6. General info Q. What does the Green Team do? A. Fulfill the steps on the ERC Scorecard. You can find the score card online here. Green Teams earn up to 100 points for completing different tasks designed to bring awareness to energy reducing behaviors.

7. Kicking it off To get started, gather a few student champions to help organize a kick-off event at your school and recruit more Green Team members. The kick-off will include a visit from a special guest mascot, fun activities, and giveaways! You’ll also receive your energy awareness materials to get started on saving energy.

8. General info • Toolkit and participation rewards: • Just for participating, each Green Team will receive: • A visit from Tolby (Turn the Lights Off Behind You), the Center for Energy and Environment mascot, and Tolby giveaways for their kick-off event • Energy Awareness Materials from CLASS 5 Energy such as SEE Squad Kits, posters, and classroom tip sheets. • Each Green Team that earns 75 points or more on the scorecard will receive the items listed above, plus: • A pizza party for your Green Team • Each Green Team that earns 90 points or more on the scorecard will receive all of the items listed above, plus: • An Energy Audit for your school building, performed by Hallberg Engineering or TRANE

9. Part 2 ERC PARTICIPATION SCORECARD

10. ERC Participation scorecard The ERC Participation Score Card will show you all of the tasks needed to complete the challenge and how many points each task is worth. Download your scorecard here. You can save your progress on your computer or print out a copy for your Green Team! At the end of the challenge, your school will have learned some new energy-saving habits to use every day!

11. ERC Participation scorecard • Form a Green Team of at least 10-20 students (5 points) • Form your Green Team ASAP! 10 multi-grade students will get you the 5 points, however you can have as many as you like on your team. Consider reaching out to classrooms, Student Council, before/after school programs or creating your own new group. • We recommend that your Green Team meet every-other week for 30 minutes.

12. ERC Participation scorecard • Complete the Energy Scavenger Hunt (15 points) • The Scavenger Hunt is a fun way for your Green Team to explore parts of your school that use the most energy – including places you may have never seen, such as the boiler room! Complete all of the tasks on the Hunt to earn all 15 points. Download the scavenger hunt here.

13. ERC Participation scorecard Become an Energy Star Partner (5 points) Becoming an Energy Star Partner is a great way to show your commitment to saving energy! Once you become a partner, your school can use the Energy Star logo on communications, your website or social media. To become a partner: • Gather the items on this checklist: http://1.usa.gov/16fc5nS • Go to this website: http://1.usa.gov/16SwEY9 • Search for your school’s name • If you are already a partner, great job! If you are not a partner, on the results page, click the box at the bottom that says “My organization was not found” • Click continue • Enter the information as prompted and follow the directions

14. ERC Participation scorecard • Gather student, teacher and staff signatures on their commitment to energy efficiency • (10 -25 points) • Download and print the Energy Pledge form here, and start getting signatures from all of the staff and students in your school. Brainstorm ideas of how to gather the most signatures and put your Green Team to work! Perhaps each Team member is assigned a classroom or staff area (office, kitchen). Or maybe you will get signatures during lunch or a special energy assembly.

15. ERC Participation score card • Collect Pledge Forms From your Green Team Members’ Families (10-20 points) • An important part of energy conservation in schools is connecting with families and the community. Ask the students on your team to have a grown up at home pledge their support. • Green teams will earn bonus points for families who participate in the Minnesota Energy Challenge: A residential energy efficiency action guide.

16. MN ENERGY Challenge Bonus Points To track the number of families participating in the MEC you need to start a school team: Adult leader signs up for the MN Energy Challenge (www.mnenergychallenge.org) Create a team for their school (teams page, link on the left hand side). Each student’s family can then sign up, pledge to participate in at least 2 energy efficiency actions and join the individual school’s team. Turn in fully completed guardian pledge forms to your ERC Liaison so we can track family participation.

17. ERC Participation scorecard • Send an email blast to staff and faculty with energy saving tips (5 points) • Educating people is the first step in conserving energy. Send an email blast out to your whole school with some tips about energy-saving behaviors that they can do every day! For a template to get started, head here. • CC your ERC Liaison to the email in order to get credit!

18. ERC Participation scorecard • Post information about the Challenge on your school’s website and/or Facebook page • (5 points) • Reach out to your community and let everyone know that saving energy is important at your school! Putting information on your website and social media sites is an easy way to reach everyone who cares about your school. • Send a hyperlink to the webpage to your ERC Liaison in order to get credit!

19. ERC Participation scorecard • Succeed in having your local newspaper print a story at the beginning of the Challenge about your participation. (5 points) • Local newspapers love to cover the great things schools are doing. This is another way to reach out to the community, and show everyone how important being green is in your building! • Send a hyperlink to the online version or tell your ERC Liason person where to find the story to get credit!

20. ERC Participation scorecard • At the end of the ERC, publish a story on your school’s website and/or in a parent newsletter (if applicable) announcing the results of your school’s participation in the challenge. (5 points) • Don’t forget a follow up! Let everyone know what a great job you did in saving energy for you school! • Send a hyperlink to the online story to your ERC Liaison or send them a copy of the newsletter in order to earn your 5 points!”

21. ERC Participation scorecard • Have your Green Team give a final presentation to your school on the results of your meetings, Scorecard results and Next Steps. (20 points) • Don’t stop when the Challenge stops – think about where your building can go from here! What did your building operators change? What great new energy-saving habits have you learned? What new ideas do you have?

22. Part 3 See sQUADS

23. SEE Squads Each building that participates will receive a SEE Squad kit. SEE (Schools for Energy Efficiency) is a program offered by CLASS 5 Energy that helps K-12 schools save energy and money by changing behavior throughout a district. • In your SEE Squad kit you will find: • 10 SEE Squad badges • 10 SEE Squad lanyards • 1 set of “OOPS!” post-its • 1 set of “WOW!” post-its • Directions for running your SEE Squad

24. SEE Squads • Who is on Your SEE Squad? • As part of the Green Team, you are officially a part of the SEE Squad as well. Your SEE Squad kit has 10 badges, however you may have more than 10 students on your Green Team. That’s OK! We encourage you to rotate SEE Squad duties during the 3 month challenge so that everyone on your Green Team gets a chance to participate in this fun building-monitoring activity.

25. SEE Squads Implementing your SEE Squads is a fun, interactive way to get your Green Team out in the building. • The purpose of SEE Squads is: • To empower students to monitor energy use throughout the building • To raise awareness of what behaviors create energy savings • To remind staff and students who are forgetting to save energy • To praise staff and students who are remembering to save energy

26. SEE Squads • Directions: • The SEE Squads task is to monitor the 2 most important energy saving behaviors in your building: • Turning off the lights in an empty room • Shutting down computers when not in use • You may call yourselves the SEE Squad, or come up with a different name for your group. • Use the badges that we provide, or create your own badge! • Walk around your school and look for opportunities to give praises or reminders • OOPS post-its should be put on computers or near light switches that are left ON when no one is in the room • WOW post-its should be put on computers or near light switches that are turned OFF when no one is in the room

27. SEE Squads • Important Guidelines: • Never interrupt a class or a meeting • Knock before you enter • Introduce yourself and let people know what you are doing (ie) “Hi, I’m on the Green Team/SEE Squad and we are monitoring energy use in our building for the Energy Reduction Challenge.”

28. Part 4 AWARENESS MATERIALS

29. Awareness materials Each school will receive two posters to put up in your building. These posters have an energy-saving message on them and will help remind people that you are saving energy every day at your school! • We recommend putting these posters up in the places where they will be seen by the most people every day, such as a main hallway, the front entryway or the cafeteria. • Don’t forget to check with your building operators before putting up any posters! Be sure to ask what type of tape or other adhesive is ok to use on your walls.

30. Awareness materials Each school will receive a packet of classroom tip sheets to distribute. Each one has 10 tips for saving energy in the classroom every day. We recommend hanging these in classrooms and staff work rooms. Many of these tips can be turned into tasks for your Green Team or classroom jobs that students can complete or monitor.

31. CONTACT INFO Q. Who do I contact to report team progress or if I have questions along the way? Each green team will be assigned an ERC Liaison. Following this training you will be asked to complete a brief quiz and then you will be contacted by an ERC representative who will assign your Liaison and help get you started. Questions right away? Email StephLeonard sleonard@usgbcmn.org

32. THANK YOU Thank you for completing the ERC Green Team Lead Training. To report completion of your training and get started saving energy please take the short quiz found here: www.mngreenschools.org/quiz