Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Office of Energy and Technology Development Regi

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Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
ProtectionOffice of Energy and Technology
DevelopmentRegional Sustainability Intern Katie
Porter Spring 2005
The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)
is a state agency with six regional offices. The
Department is responsible for administering the
states environmental laws and regulations. The
DEPs mission is to protect Pennsylvanias land,
air, and water from pollution to maintain a
clean, safe environment. The Northwest Regional
Office is located in Meadville and serves twelve
counties. The Office of Energy and Technology
Development (OETD) is one of the DEPs ten
programs. The OETDs mission is to make
businesses, schools, and other organizations
aware of energy and cost savings opportunities.
The Office can direct organizations to strategies
and resources, provide financial assistance, and
perform on-site assessments to help them identify
and implement energy-saving projects.
As an intern in the OETD I worked on the Regional
Energy Conservation Project with local school
districts. In effort to make NW PA a model for
high performance schools, the OETD identifies the
magnitude of savings for each district by
benchmarking their schools based on energy
performance. Then, the Office explains where
improvements can be made. I specifically
conducted energy assessments on two school
districts and researched energy-saving
technologies.