Sustainable Jersey – Nana Abayie Boakye-Boaten – 2016

Goals

Sustainable Jersey (SJ), a certification program that supports the promotion of sustainability and energy efficiency programs in schools and municipalities, is continuously looking to increase its participants. EDF Climate Corps fellow, Nana Abayie Boakye-Boaten was brought in to assist two schools in establishing comprehensive energy tracking systems, identifying energy efficient projects, completing their Sustainable Jersey certification process, and navigating incentive programs for Energy Efficiency projects under the New Jersey Clean Energy Program (NJCEP).

Solutions

To establish a proper energy tracking system in both the Canfield Avenue School and the Rockaway Valley School, Nana collected and analyzed energy data and established Energy Star Accounts. He explained the logics behind the Energy Score and how to update accounts with new information to keep energy tracking consistent. He then determined an up-to-date calculation of the school’s carbon footprints. To reduce energy use, he proposed the installation of remote mounted occupancy sensors at both schools. For the Canfield Avenue School specifically, he recommended an onsite wind turbine generation system, and for the Rockaway Valley School he suggested upgrading the lights from fluorescent to LEDs, which he identified by performing a financial analysis. Lastly, Nana helped both the schools apply for incentive programs with NJCEP and recommended actions to bring them closer to obtaining Sustainable Jersey certification.

Potential Impact

Nana’s proposed energy efficiency projects have the potential to provide the Canfield Avenue School and the Rockaway Valley School with:

• 30,000 kWh in energy savings
• $60,000 in annual cost savings
• incentives that can be used for energy efficiency projects that require low initial capital investments
• the positioning to meet Sustainable Jersey certification