As seen in The Courier-News.

There were a lot of good reasons for Kenyon Woods Middle School in South Elgin, Ill., to start saving electricity. Reducing energy costs for cash-strapped Elgin School District U46, for one. Doing its part for the environment, for another.

Then there was the drive to beat out all the district's other middle schools in U46's annual awards for its schools that cut back most on energy use.

"When we came in second place last year, we sat down and said, ‘Oh, come on. We can do better than so-and-so.' It's that competitive edge we like to have," Kenyon Woods Principal Sue Welu said.

"It's a good thing we're not a high school."

The South Elgin school was one of seven U46 schools awarded recently by the district for reducing their energy use.

Over the past year, U46 schools saved a total 1,763,400 kilowatt hours for a savings of $158,705, according to the district. That savings translates into funds available for other needs at those schools.

On average, U46 spends a little more than $7 million on utilities each year, according to Chief Operating Officer Jeff King.

The district's awards for energy conservation started about three years ago as "an effort to keep costs down without a huge cost in infrastructure," King said. That's when the district set a baseline energy usage for each school building and started calculating how much less energy each school could use each month, then year, from that.

Welu said Kenyon Woods custodian Pete Marroquin noticed many teachers left the lights on after they'd left their classrooms at the school. So the school started a campaign around shutting off lights, she said.

King said a building can reduce its energy use 8 to 10 percent by changing behaviors, such as shutting off lights.

"I'm horrendous — and (Marroquin is) horrendous — for going around and turning out lights," Welu said. "There's been many a time where we hear, ‘Hey, I'm still in here!' "

But it paid off — $3,000 from U46 for the top energy-saving middle school in the district.

That's money the Kenyon Woods principal said she told Marroquin he could "have the first whack at." The custodian requested new mats at each of the schools' entrances, something the school already is looking into, she said.

Five U46 elementary schools were awarded $1,000 each for their energy conservation: Fox Meadow Elementary School in South Elgin, Garfield Elementary School in Elgin, Oakhill Elementary School in Streamwood, Ontarioville Elementary School in Hanover Park and Wayne Elementary School in Wayne. And Larkin High School in Elgin was awarded $5,000 for saving the most of any high school.