In a span of just under two years, MISD saved $2,657,169 by cutting energy usage across the district. The single most expensive commodity purchased by the school district is energy. Every dollar saved can be put right back into MISD’s funding.
Mr. Kelly Campbell and Mr. Dwayne Tampkins work as Energy Education Specialists for the district. They typically perform energy audits on schools before and after students and staff attend school.
“Our schedule is peculiar,” Campbell said. “Even when we are not working, we are working.”
Since 2006, MISD earned ENERGY STAR building certifications as a way of demonstrating its dedication to energy efficiency. Recently, MISD earned recognition as an Energy Partner of the Year by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy (DOE). MISD became the only school district in Texas and one of only three in the nation to receive this prestigious honor.
Mr. Campbell and Mr. Tampkins accepted the award at the 2014 ENERGY STAR Awards Ceremony in Washington, D.C.
“To me it was like receiving an Academy Award,” Mr. Tampkins said. “When you see presidents and CEOs of corporations sitting at the tables and then they say ‘Mansfield ISD’, it was amazing, to me it was surreal.”
The Energy Education Specialists’ work also extends to conserving water and gas. Mr. Campbell estimates that their reduction in CO2 emissions has been equal to 2,000 cars running idle for an entire year or keeping 60,000 propane tanks worth of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere, accomplished by encouraging students and staff to make small changes to their everyday routine.
“It lets me know we are on the right track,” Tampkins said. “We just need to stay the course, continue to stay focused, and push forward.”
Mr. Campbell and Mr. Tampkins commented that their work would be impossible without the hard work of MISD’s maintenance and support staff.
“When I first started it was really phenomenal,” Mr. Tampkins said. “I have a newfound respect and appreciation for our support staff. They do the day in and day out work that make the district continue to work.”
