Reducing ISD’s carbon footprint has been a priority at ISD for a number of years. The school has made changes in the facilities, equipment, and practices.
The majority of the impact comes from the school’s use of electricity. To reduce the amount of electricity, the school has taken the following steps.
Replace almost all fluorescent lights with LED lights.
Install solar panels to power the outdoor lights as well as the early childhood building.
Thermal insulation installed in all buildings constructed over the last 7 years to save energy and improve natural thermal comfort.
The new gym was designed to optimize natural air ventilation and not require air conditioning.
Solar panels will be installed on the roof of the PAC – Athletic Complex
Additionally, the school has contracted with a consultant from SENELEC, the local electric company, to do a complete audit of our systems and equipment. The goal will be to further reduce our power consumption by installing more energy-efficient equipment.
The school took a significant step to reduce paper and ink usage a couple of years ago. We replaced the vast array of stand-alone printers with an integrated cloud-based solution. Print requests are activated based on the student or staff id badge. Any print job that is not activated is deleted. This has reduced the waste of paper from multiple printings. In addition, the amount of printing by student and staff can be monitored. If there is excessive usage, we can have a conversation with the student or staff member. Also, centralized printing has reduced the number of ink cartridges that have to be replaced annually. The Board of Trustees demonstrated their leadership in this area by moving to digital Board packets of information instead of paper.
Eliminating single-use plastics on campus was a priority this year with our food service provider being the largest source of plastics. Eliminating single-use plastics was a condition of the contract when we requested bids for the service. Ansamble, our new food service provider, has instituted paper bowls and packaging as well as wooden eating utensils. Unfortunately, Covid-19 has caused complications with their sustainability efforts. Instead of serving hot food from the canteen with reusable bowls or plates, the food is now delivered to the classrooms. Also, based on the guidance from our health and safety committee, utilizing reusable food containers is not advised as it could lead to the spread of the virus. We will eliminate the single-use food containers as soon as it is safe to do so.
Sustainability is embedded in our school curriculum in all three schools. It is essential that we teach our students the need for sustainable practices as well as demonstrate our commitment through our actions. We invite parents and students with ideas and contacts that can help us in these efforts reach out to Suzanne Wardini (suzannew@faculty.isd.sn), Assistant Director, or Alan Knobloch (alank@faculty.isd.sn), Director.
