Marquette Elementary becomes Mpowered



Marquette Elementary School, located in the City of Madison, WI, has a history of enthusiasm and support for environmental education and recently, in line with this history, several staff have become interested in educating the students about the school’s energy use and carbon footprint. In the fall of 2008, a staff member from Marquette Elementary School contacted Seventh Generation Energy Systems, a local non-profit energy firm, to discuss the possibilities for an energy awareness project for the students. The goals for the project were to help the students create the list of ideas for reducing the school’s energy consumption and carbon emissions, and to empower the students to collectively decide which ideas to implement.

In addition, the project would be linked with the City of Madison’s Mpower Campaign. Seventh Generation partnered with MSA, a local planning firm with experience in sustainable community planning, to prepare the carbon baseline. Marquette School, Seventh Generation and MSA planned the project phases as such:

  • Create the school’s carbon baseline for 2008

  • Design and implement an educational outreach program based on the school’s carbon footprint

  • Encourage the students to brainstorm ideas for carbon reduction at Marquette School

  • Empower the students to vote on the ideas they would like to implement at their school

  • Prepare a summary report for the Marquette students, teachers and parents that summarizes the carbon baseline, the student’s ideas, and recommended carbon reduction strategies

  • Present the report to the parent leadership group, teachers and students.

Key findings include:

  • Marquette School’s total carbon emissions for 2008 are approximately 1,011 metric tons.

  • Electricity makes up the largest portion of these emissions (55.6%), followed by natural gas (36.8%).

  • Based on the student survey, approximately 21.7% of students either walk, bike or use a scooter to travel to school, contributing no CO2 emissions.

  • Of the 9 classes that brainstormed ideas for carbon reduction strategies and voted on their top idea, the number one strategy was to install either a solar electric system or a solar hot water system on the school.

  • Marquette School could easily meet a goal of a 10% reduction in carbon emissions from their 2008 baseline.

Click here to view the entire report!