During Town Meeting on Sept. 15, John Bicking, Facilities Manager, announced that Sage is participating in the Southern California Edison (SCE) reduction program, from which we saved an average of $34,000 in electricity bills over the past year, generally after school hours from 3 – 7 p.m.

The day he reported this, Sage experienced one of the most unpleasant days of the school year as students and teachers spent time in classes with temperatures of about 80 degrees. People, especially those in the D. Diane Anderson Family Humanities Building, could be heard grumbling about the A.C. for three days. But it was all just a coincidence that the two coincided.

SCE’s reduction program has allowed Sage Hill to become a test site for the HVAC compressors, a high end energy system designed for environmental comfort. While it was installed last year, it was only during Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday that Sage experienced discomfort.

The problem last week was weather that was humid and hot, with temperatures up to 100 degrees. These compressors were only able to decrease the temperatures of the classrooms so much.

“We’re not shutting the A.C.s down,” Bicking explained. “The conservation program has nothing to do with the problems we have had this week; it doesn’t affect school hours at all.”

It was just a coincidence that the day Bicking decided to announce the program that Sage is participating in, the A.C. wasn’t able to cool down the classrooms.

Since the weather has cooled, the HVAC is allowing cooler air to circulate all buildings.