Doug Crockett

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'Energy" may be the keyword to define this decade. Price hikes for gasoline and natural gas remind us that resources are finite and global demand is rising.

While the search for future energy supplies goes on, conservation is gaining traction.

Outstanding efforts in that field were recognized last week by the Governor's Awards for Energy Efficiency.

Among the statewide winners were programs at the city of Tucson, the town of Sahuarita, the Arizona Portland Cement plant in Marana and the Arizona State Prison complex in Tucson.

In addition, the top award among the state's K-12 schools went to a longtime program in the Tucson Unified School District. And Doug Crockett, the program's developer, was named Arizona Energy Advocate of the Year.

In 1991, Crockett was living in Minnesota and found out through a Star want ad about a new job with TUSD to develop energy-conservation programs.

He had a background in such efforts, including an MBA in energy management, and was hired on the condition that demonstrable savings in district utility costs would justify his job.

Right after being hired, Crockett put a system in place to track all TUSD expenditures for utilities and solid waste.

The Resources Efficiency Awareness Program launched in 1991 has saved the district more than $5.4 million in utility costs, attracted $2.5 million in outside funds for conservation projects and paid $491,696 to schools and other TUSD sites that excelled in conservation.

The program now involves a group of 15 TUSD teachers, administrators, students, parents and representatives of area utilities known as the Green Team to execute the conservation plan.

Crockett says technology is important in getting a handle on conservation for the sprawling school district and its 133 facilities serving 62,000 students.

Solar panels are appearing on some district schools and other buildings, and new compressed- natural-gas buses are joining the TUSD fleet.

Absent this effort, Crockett says, the district's annual $18.6 million utility bill would be "nearly $1 million higher."

The key to success is behavior modification, or raising awareness of how individual actions affect the whole picture.

The ethics of saving are reinforced by paying rewards — nearly a half-million dollars so far — to schools for the efforts of students, teachers and staff.

Communicating the benefits of the program helps ensure that those improvements grow in the future.

One Green Team member is Betsy Bolding, director of consumer affairs at Tucson Electric Power Co. She gives Crockett much of the credit for the success of REAP and the ongoing efforts to make the school district more efficient.

"He's always thinking strategically about ways to save energy and make the programs work," Bolding says.

Perhaps the greatest benefit of REAP is not easily quantifiable. Students and others are instilled with the ethic of conservation in the school experience. Using that knowledge through life will benefit everyone.