The Los Angeles Unified School District is the largest public school system in the state of California and is the 2nd largest public school district in all of the United States. It serves over 660,000 students (K-12), 60,000 employees, 33,000 classrooms, and 1,200 schools and centers. That being the case, the amount of money spent on electricity within LAUSD schools has risen to a new unfathomable height.
The district annually spends approximately $120 million on utilities, 93 percent of which is electricity and water (LAUSD). Over the next five years, the recent utility increases approved by the city of Los Angeles will affect “LA Unified with $24.2 million more in costs” (Szymanski). However, LAUSD has been working on several ways to save money. The district is currently committed to energy conservation through a wide variety of projects that will increase energy efficiency in district facilities and will hopefully increase conservation behavior throughout the district through awareness and education of the problem (Learning Green).
LAUSD is so committed to this new energy conservation project that we have a specific unit dedicated to it. LAUSD’s Sustainability Initiatives Unit is defined as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the…show more content… At the 2016 Budget, Facilities, and Audit Committee meeting, District Chief Facilities Executive Mark Hovatter talks about the offset of extra costs using solar panels and light bulb replacements (Chrysiliou). LAUSD has installed 66 of the planned 68 solar panel projects in 64 school sites and they will generate $5.7 million in energy cost savings this year (Learning Green). “We also are getting a big bang for our return when investing in efficient lights,” says Hovatter (Chrysiliou). The district is replacing most light bulbs with more efficient LED bulbs so that an 18-watt bulb will light the same area that once took 100 watts
