Energy efficiency: NREL guidance could mean massive energy savings for schools in New Orleans

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After Hurricane Katrina-powered floodwaters demolished dozens of New Orleans schools and thousands of homes, the school district has an ambitious plan to rebuild and renovate schools with energy efficiency blueprints from a DOE agency that should mean better learning conditions for students and energy savings in the millions of dollars. Backed by federal disaster funds and strong guidance from DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the New Orleans school district plans to build 40 new schools and renovate 38 more. While many of the schools to be renovated were damaged by hurricanes Rita and Katrina, others simply suffered from long-term neglect. Some of the new schools have already opened and NREL plans to monitor some of them to find out what works well and what opportunities may have been overlooked. While integrating energy efficiency technologies and design into the new and renovated schools will cost millions more than would be required to build a school to code, the schools are expected to break even on those costs with energy savings in three or four years. And with the schools