Energy efficiency and minimizing waste are two environmental concerns today that are controversial topics today when it comes to our earth and how we are treating it. Energy efficiency deals with using less energy for a service (Clark, 2012) while waste minimization is ways to reduce the amount of waste society produces (“Waste Minimization”, n.d.) Both of these topics are always discussed but do we really see them in practice? More specifically, do schools practice these methods to conserve energy? Some schools practice both energy efficiency and waste minimization or either one of them; in some cases, schools are required to be participating in energy incentive programs or waste minimization methods by law. Schools tend to practice these methods because of the incentives they can receive such as tax cuts, rebates, and even services provided from organizations. Not to mention, schools save money in general from energy efficiency and waste minimization programs because they lower the cost of energy usage in the school since there is less energy being used. The most effective way to incentivize energy efficiency and waste minimization is to offer rebates for the schools to use on bills for energy usage.

Rebates give back a certain amount of money to a costumer with an offer that will require the purchase of a certain amount of a product. Programs for energy efficiency and waste minimization can use rebates to encourage schools to participate in these programs. Schools would not only gain money in rebates but gain revenue because they have to pay less money for energy and cleaning up waste. For example, TECO (Tampa Electric Company) has a Conservation Value Program that offers a rebate up to $275 per kilowatt for having equipment that reduces or shifts energy use during the summer and winter months during the year (“Energy Incentive”, 2015.) Even though the school would have to buy equipment that reduces energy consumption, the money gained from rebates and lowered energy bills would outweigh the amount of the money spent on the equipment.

An example of schools that have gained revenue from rebates and energy efficiency are schools districts in Dayton, Ohio. According to an article from myDayton Daily News, Dayton Power & Light has an “On Board” energy efficiency program that lasts for 12 months and has given back $993,000 in rebates to 32 schools boards in the state. Including the rebates, these school districts have saved $1.36 million in energy spending from this program. According to Waibel Energy Systems, who were apart of the efforts for the “On Board” program with Dayton Power & Light, the school districts averaged about 233% of the cost of the program in saves; this means that the school districts were not just able to gain the money from purchasing the equipment, but they made a full profit and some from the energy efficiency program (Kelley, 2016.)  Now imagine if all of our power companies and schools would be able to work together with energy efficiency programs like “On Board.” School districts would be saving a ton of money on energy costs to able to use it for textbooks, supplies, equipment, facilities, and programs.

Electric providers do not have to always be the corporations that would have to give the rebates to the schools. Another rebate that could encourage schools to be more energy efficient is having rebates only on equipment like solar panels to allow schools to gain revenue; companies that manufacture these necessary tools for energy saving would be the ones to give the rebates back to the schools instead of electricity providers. If the schools could buy the materials needed to be energy efficient at a lower price, they would want to spend the money on the items because it would save them more in the long run over time.

Currently speaking, there are not many waste minimization programs that offer incentives for waste reduction. Now, how can we change that?  Well waste minimization requires large quantity generators (LQGs) that waste disposal companies should have. With waste minimization incentive programs, it would be a little more complicated. Waste companies could create programs that would give a rebate back to schools if they gave all of their waste to dispose of properly or recycle. These rebates could go from 5% of the cost to even full coverage of the fees to dispose of the waste. Rebates would encourage schools to donate their waste to these companies to discard their garbage which would generate revenue for schools and profits for the businesses.

Even though rebates save schools a substantial amount of funding, isn’t just the reduction in costs of energy prices already an incentive for energy efficiency and waste minimization programs? Different projects that involve energy efficiency have allowed for schools to save tons of money on their energy bills. For example, the Greenfield school district in Wisconsin has cut its electric from a maximum of $10,000 to $3,000 monthly just by installing solar panels for their schools. Jeff Davis, the school district’s superintendent, has estimated that about 80% of the district’s energy needs has been provided through these solar panels (Larimore, 2016.) When you think about it, are incentive programs really needed? Incentive programs is just a way of saving more for schools but it is not really necessary. The incentive from being energy efficient is saving money in electricity bills while waste minimization is less money on maintaining the waste kept in schools, there does not have to be more incentive for schools because it just costs electric and waste companies more money that is not required.
Even though energy efficiency is not necessary, it is a great way to encourage schools to be more “green.” Rebates are the most efficient way for these incentive programs to promote energy efficiency and waste minimization because it allows for the schools to gain revenue instead of losing it. Schools these days are very tight on their budgets and do not have a lot of money to spend on new equipment for energy efficiency and waste minimization. The incentive programs allow the schools to earn funds to make up for their expenses of buying the equipment for energy efficiency and waste minimization and gain money from cutting their electricity bill and cost of maintaining waste around schools.