Students And Staff At Local School Win Environmental Grant For Energy Use Reduction

Students and staff at P.S. 48 in Mapleton received accolades for their environmental initiatives to conserve energy, increase recycling and reduce their carbon footprints.

The project, called the Green Cup Challenge, is an annual student-led competition to measure and reduce school-based electricity use for one month. The competition, which ran from March 2 to the 30, was created by the Green Schools Alliance (GSA), a nonprofit organization of public and private schools whose aim is to meet the Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s PlaNYC target of cutting carbon emissions 30 percent by 2017, according to a release by the Department of Education.

“My hat goes off to our students and staff this year for a terrific job preserving our natural resources and reducing the carbon footprint for future generations,” Chancellor Dennis Walcott said. “I also want to thank our city agencies and non-profit partners for helping to cut energy use in school buildings-which, as a whole, consume 25 percent of the electricity used in New York City public facilities.”

P.S. 48 was able to reduce their electricity by 28 percent. They received a $4,000 grant sponsored by the Department of Education and the City’s Department of Citywide Administrative Services for their hard work.