'Going green' can save public's green, too

Not since the late 1960s and early 1970s has there been such focus on the environment and what could be done to protect it.

Pollution control and energy conservation have come a long way from those days, when drivers stood in long lines on designated days in order to get gas, a pollutant-filled American river actually caught fire and garbage was routinely dumped in open pits.

The habits and the technology are much better today, but the population is far larger, too, exerting greater pressures on the natural world in new ways. With the dual issues of global warming and gasoline prices fueling debate of a similar furor these days, public institutions seem to be taking the lead in response to energy conservation.

Community School District 300 announced last week that conservation efforts it began in 2004 had saved $1.1 million in utility costs. Elgin Area School District U-46 runs recycling programs in more than half its schools, shuts down energy-wise during vacation periods and daily with automated controls. Judson University's new library/academic center is expected to use half the energy of less modern buildings. And it's not just schools, either. Elgin's newest fire station will be eco-friendly and the city already has a fleet of hybrid vehicles. Algonquin's municipal fleet runs on biofuels.

On the other hand, enthusiasm in the public domain must be muted if so-called "green" programs are not financially feasible. This is taxpayer money, after all, a truth the Gail Borden Public Library Board acknowledged by dropping plans for a geo-thermal heating/cooling system at its planned branch once it discovered benefits wouldn't justify the costs.

Conservation efforts by school institutions may not be altruistic so much as practical. Educational institutions always seem to need more money. That should make saving on controllable expenditures like energy a priority. If it isn't, a state law going into effect next year sets new energy use expectations for schools receiving state monies and that will no doubt encourage laggards.

But it also would be a lot easier for a school district to sell a tax hike to voters if it had acted aggressively to curb costs first. And energy is a big cost for schools. Energy costs are the second biggest operating expense in U-46 after salaries and pensions.

In addition, it's much easier to teach environmental responsibility to young people if a school or district can point to practical and visible solutions at hand.

Whatever the reason, conservation efforts that are both practical and financially feasible show public institutions can save significant green for taxpayers while keeping the natural world a greener place as well.

Proof that though the times and problems may be different from a quarter-century ago, the solution remains pretty much the same -- the active engagement of both the public and the public institutions who serve it.