Since its creation through the New Deal more than 90 years ago, Tennessee Valley Authority’s mission has been to improve lives. Power production has been a major focus, but since creating the EnergyRight School Uplift Program in 2021, the utility has worked with electricity providers like North Alabama Electric Cooperative to help 225 schools cut their energy costs and apply grants of no less than $10,000 to fund upgrades.

Kate Duncan Smith DAR High School is among the 120 schools across TVA’s service area enrolled this year in the Uplift program. Hollywood Elementary School participated in 2024, receiving a $10,000 grant.

A handful of $25,000 and $200,000 grants are also awarded, based on the “score” a school receives for energy-waste reduction, engagement of the school community and a needs-based assessment of its buildings. Award amounts for this year will be announced May 1.

TVA says its Uplift participants average a 10% reduction in energy expenses, mainly through simple, no-cost methods like turning off lights and devices when they’re not needed — not to mention the savings resulting from grant-funded upgrades. Simple practices and low-cost improvements are bolstered by creative ideas from students, who often come up with fun ways to keep everyone engaged in the effort.

The TVA School Uplift Program is unique in that it involves the entire school community — teachers, students and administrators. Once a school applies for and is enrolled in the program, a teacher selected as “energy champion” leads the Uplift effort and receives ongoing training in strategic energy management, mainly through monthly online workshops and meetings with a TVA “energy coach.”

Students play a key role, too, creating engaging ways to cut energy use and helping plan how to use the resulting savings and grant to improve the learning experience. With this approach, the program is aimed not just at cutting costs, but at meeting important needs unique to each participating school.

At DAR High School, students are creating posters, participating in recycling initiatives and even signing a pledge to commit to energy-savings habits, says the school’s energy champion, Laurie Gluck, who teaches chemistry and biology. “Energy-cost savings will result from small changes, like ensuring computers are turned off before the end of the day and during long breaks. These savings can be redirected to address various needs within the school,” she says.

“This program has also provided students with opportunities to explore STEM careers through research and engagement activities. And our energy team plans to produce an energy awareness video and invite a TVA representative to address the DAR student body.”

The Uplift program “requires 3 scopes to be implemented for whole-school use over a minimum of 5 years,” Gluck says. She says one plan is to upgrade the sound equipment in DAR’s multifunctional event space, Burkey Gym.

“TVA’s opportunities have been nothing short of extraordinary,” she says. “For instance, every student and faculty member at DAR will receive a pack of LED lightbulbs for their homes. And DAR has been granted a second site assessment to further investigate energy-saving opportunities — an evaluation valued at $5,000.”

Hollywood Elementary School’s grant, awarded May 2024, funded construction of a pavilion. It serves as an outdoor classroom, and its location at the playground ensures a shady shelter, says counselor and librarian Missy Tolleson, the school’s energy champion. The pavilion is a visible reminder of the efforts students and staff invested in the program and the energy lessons learned along the way through entertaining guest speakers and a variety of engaging resources provided by TVA. These ranged from posters, stickers and activities packets to the students’ favorite gadget — an energy meter they used to measure how much power a plugged-in device was using, even when it was turned off.

Physical upgrades to cut energy costs included replacing the aging drink vending machine, changing out worn ceiling tiles and removing ceiling-mounted projectors that weren’t being used, Tolleson says. “We did some things that otherwise wouldn’t have gotten done,” she says. “We were just starting to really figure out what we were doing, and there is so much more we can work on.”

When a school applies for the Uplift program, TVA sends an energy-efficiency engineer to assess needs on-site. “The initial site assessments conducted for School Uplift provide each participating school a list of low- and no-cost options they can implement to save energy use and money,” says Lori Brown, the program’s manager at TVA.

During the initial assessments, TVA engineers note site issues with heating, ventilation, air-conditioning systems and chillers, roofing, windows and lighting. From this list, the schools determine if they should apply for the Building Energy Upgrade Grant of $200,000. Grant applications are scored on specific need-based criteria in an anonymous process.

Upgrades funded by these grants benefit students, teachers and staff by improving the learning environment. This ranges from using better lighting to elevate mood and improve focus to improved ventilation.