by Krystal Paco
Guam - KUAM News first reported in January about JFK High School's
power bill nearly tripling since moving to Upper Tumon.
Today a meeting was held to discuss ways to think green.
The Home of the Islanders is far from green when it comes to
their energy bill. At today's work session, JFK assistant principal Hannah
Gutierrez reported that the Upper Tumon facility
racked a hefty $163,000 power bill for the month of December - triple what it
was when the Islanders used the Tiyan facility last school year. Changes need
to be made to address this as the Department of Education continues to look at
ways to live within its means since Governor Eddie Calvo imposed a 15% budget
reserve on all line agencies, which for DOE equates to $30 million.
The Department of Education is the second largest consumer
of power on island, and with the price of gasoline going up, so will the price
of power. Guam Education Board member Barry Mead recognizes that although the Upper Tumon campus has 12% more classrooms with a larger
gymnasium and library than the former Tiyan campus, that's no excuse for the
record-high power bill. "The two biggest expenses the Department of Education
has is payroll and energy neither of which we can go without," said Mead.
Mead also noted how there are obvious problems with the
school's air conditioning units. Every classroom is equipped with five-ton
units with thermostats attached to the same unit. Mead observed that the media
room's thermostat read 70 degrees, when board policy specifically states a
comfortable temperature is 76 degrees. "You're getting a false reading
consequently that's causing the air conditioners to run continuously instead of
reaching temperature instead of turning off," he said.
According to Gutierrez, contractors international bridge
corporation have yet to turn over the keys to the lockboxes, restricting JFK
administration from changing room temperatures and A/C timers or turning off
campus lights after hours. "Everybody that works at this school and
everybody that works at DOE needs to be energy conscious," he said.
Mead says the Guam
Community College is
paving the way as a green campus making massive renovations to ensure every
building is leadership in energy and environmental design certified equipped
with solar panels and means to recycle water and that DOE needs to follow suit.
In conjunction with the need to save energy, the Educational
Learning Task Force's Finance Committee is looking at alternative ways to fund
future DOE projects, including energy efficiency financing that requires the
schools to retrofit hardware and see return on its investments in ten years.
