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PrintMonte Cassino powers up with a greener school
The school leads a charge to promote energy efficiency and conservation among faculty, staff and students.
Cory Hoffart is well versed in speaking to large groups. From local company Samson to the Tulsa Day Center for the Homeless to the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center, homeowners and even local restaurants, he has met with a variety of organizations to discuss how to make their facilities more environmentally friendly.
But when preparing to speak to his latest client, Monte Cassino School, he admits that he was a bit nervous. After all, it’s not every day that he must convince 800 elementary and middle school students of the importance and benefits of conserving energy and recycling.
Having already made a presentation to Monte Cassino’s faculty and staff six months earlier, Hoffart covered some of the same ground — what energy is, how it is used, sources of electricity and how to improve energy efficiency.
“I just tried to bring all that into play,” he says. “Whether people care about saving money, the world or allowance, there’s always something people can relate to.”
Hoffart’s presentation was a hit, and the students were excited to get to work on making their school “greener.”
The process began in July 2009 when Monte Cassino staff asked Hoffart to conduct an energy audit of the school. Owner of Tulsa-based Green Collar Energy, Hoffart often works with commercial companies to implement more environmentally friendly practices, from assessing energy usage to investigating alternative energy sources to starting recycling programs and purchasing more environmentally friendly products.
After conducting a facility audit, Hoffart prepares a report identifying “where the waste is, what can be done to improve or decrease waste, what it will cost and how it will pay off,” as well as the associated carbon footprint, he says.
Monte Cassino Controller Dana Harris says the school had already been working to become more environmentally conscious even before enlisting Hoffart.
A Benedictine school, Monte Cassino follows the tenets of St. Benedict, who instructed people to be good stewards of the earth. As a result, she says the school has worked to make its physical plant energy efficient, installed energy-efficient windows and blinds, and added weather stripping and replaced lightbulbs across campus.
After conducting his audit of the school, Hoffart learned that staff and students had already made great strides in lowering energy use. The next step was changing behaviors.
During his presentations, Hoffart emphasized the importance of recycling, not only at school but also at home, and the dangers of what he calls “vampire power” — appliances that, even when not in use, suck power when plugged in.
“That was an eye-opening experience,” Harris says. “It’s amazing how many things you can plug into the wall.”
Hoffart says the students were equally motivated and eager to take home what they had learned.
“Everyone was really attentive and they had some really great ideas,” he says. “I can tell that this upcoming generation is going to be much more educated and informed about issues than mine was, so that was exciting.”
Now, in addition to paper recycling tubs in every classroom and bottle recycling bins in the cafeteria, Monte Cassino staff want to take conservation to the next level. Harris says they would like to add solar panels to the roof and are discussing purchasing an energy monitoring system.
Created by Great Britain-based company Enigin, the device works by tapping into the school’s electricity meters and producing reports, available online, describing how much energy is being used, the associated costs and carbon emissions, Hoffart says. All figures can be seen in real time and over past years. Monte Cassino would be the first school in Tulsa to install the device.
As a result, Hoffart says the device will allow Monte Cassino science teachers to create hands-on projects for students and demonstrate the impact of energy conservation on the school and on the environment.
While significant fund raising will be necessary to purchase the device, as well as solar panels and other improvements to Monte Cassino facilities, faculty and staff are excited to continue working with Hoffart while at the same time achieving one of the school’s missions.
“Part of our vision statement as an institution is reverencing God’s gifts, and conservation absolutely falls under that heading,” says Mandy Rodgers, Monte Cassino’s director of events management. “So it’s an integral part of every element of the school community.”
