Carbon Lighthouse is proud to announce the completion of a series of energy projects at the Jewish Community High School of the Bay (JCHS), eliminating the school’s entire carbon footprint while reducing utility costs.

“JCHS is proud that our work with Carbon Lighthouse gives us the opportunity to enact a primary Jewish value of stewardship and care for a fragile planet through green practices,” said Rabbi Howard Ruben, Head of School. “Like the JCHS award-winning organic lunch program, community garden, and our student-led environmental service club, this type of work is part of the essential character of our school.”

Carbon Lighthouse engineers collected and analyzed 37,000 data points as part of the comprehensive energy study to understand how to deliver large savings without compromising building comfort. The study identified multiple energy efficiency improvements requiring no new major capital equipment, including installing new controls for the boilers, compressors, economizers and air handlers. Day-lighting sensors and 37 LED down-light replacements were also installed. These measures reduced the energy use of the building’s systems by 25 percent, saving utility costs and lessening the associated carbon emissions.

A portion of the savings will be donated to Carbon Lighthouse Association, an independently governed non-profit, to balance the remainder of the school’s carbon footprint through verifiable carbon allowances.

“It is great to see JCHS setting a positive example for both its students and the community,” said Francisco Isenberg, Carbon Lighthouse’s Senior Engineer. “The school is demonstrating its environmental commitment and teaching its students to be conscientious about energy use. Hopefully, this lesson will have a lasting effect on this and future generations.”

The Carbon Lighthouse Association awarded JCHS the Carbon Free Plaque at a school assembly on Tuesday, May 29th, and also shared its methodologies in a presentation to selected students.