Everyone wants to be an energy star.

So is the case at Gainesville city schools, where teachers and students vie each week for the coveted stickers that separate the energy-saving "stars" from those whose less than stellar conservation merits the single word, "Oops."

The stickers are doled out by Assistant Superintendent David Shumake following weekly energy audits. In his dual role as energy manager for the school system, Shumake walks school halls late at night or in the morning to check utility usage, and he provides school principals with reports of their progress.

The audits became standard in 2008, when Gainesville schools followed Hall and White counties in enlisting the help of the award-winning Energy Education company to cut energy costs. The company offers a comprehensive program customized to help schools, colleges and churches optimize their energy conservation potential in ways individual consumers could not.

What separates Energy Education from the standard list of tips on cutting energy is the access schools are given to energy specialists on call to inspect school utility equipment for energy efficiency.

"One of the benefits in monitoring energy costs with the equipment we have was that we discovered some things that needed to be repaired, like defective water meters and circuits," Gainesville schools Superintendent Merrianne Dyer said. "We’ve changed out some equipment to lower our costs."

To keep track of consumption, information Shumake collects during audits is combined with utility bills and fed into a special data analysis system called ECAP that calculates usage and shows where improvements can be made.

But not all the work is done after school.

Faculty, staff and students make a daily effort to conserve energy not only to lighten their schools’ monthly bills but to benefit the environment as well.

"Everybody just bought into it, not just teachers but staffwide," said Priscilla Collins, principal at Gainesville Exploration Academy. Following Energy Education guidelines, the school thermostats remain between 68 and 72 degrees for heat and students and teachers turn off all electrical equipment in classrooms in what they call "daily shutdowns."

The school also eliminated all teacher electronics such as coffee makers, small refrigerators and microwaves, according to Dyer. Instead, they reserved a common room for shared appliances.

"This is a people-oriented program," Shumake said. "We’ve had great success with our staff who have taken a team approach to this, and that’s reflected in the savings."

In total, Gainesville city schools reduced energy spending by 34 percent and shrunk what would have been $1.35 million spent on energy to $885,000 between December 2008 and December 2009.

Gainesville Exploration Academy led schools by decreasing utility costs for electricity, water and natural gas by 45.43 percent — about 45 cents for every dollar spent.

Schools conserved enough energy to equal the removal of 476 cars from the road and reduced carbon emissions by 2,600 metric tons, according to Shumake.

"It’s more than turning off the lights or a thermostat. This is not your typical home utility equipment," Shumake said. "The sophistication of our equipment lends itself to this program."

Hall County schools led their own energy saving movement when the school board began the Energy Education program more than a decade ago.

"It’s working great," said Hall County schools Superintendent Will Schofield. "We save the system in excess of about 32 percent of our energy costs per year systemwide."

Since launching the program in 1998, the county has avoided nearly $12 million in utility costs. In December 2009, the program helped avoid nearly $130,000 in spending for its 36 schools. Gainesville avoided $32,000 for its seven schools.

Schofield added that Hall is on its way to becoming an Energy Star-labeled school system this year, a designation based on energy saving for the previous 18 months.

The extra funds this leaves school boards has translated into fewer teach layoffs, Dyer said.

Savings go back into the board’s general fund, 88 percent of which is used for personnel salaries.

"That is the most motivating thing for many of us," Dyer said. "It’s easy to turn off the lights and be a little chilly when you think of the jobs that you are helping to save."