The Department of Education is looking for 25 of its 133 elementary schools to take part in a new energy-saving challenge that could bring $10,000 to the winning school as part of a joint DOE-Hawaiian Electric Co. partnership to cut home electricity usage and teach students about energy conservation.

State schools superintendent Pat Hamamoto called the challenge exciting and beneficial.

"Families will be able to use less electricity, save money on their home bills and help protect the environment all at the same time," said Hamamoto in a statement.

HECO will provide specific energy-saving tips and offer schools materials and tools to educate students, including activity workbooks, videos, hands-on experiment ideas and in-class speakers that focus on conservation.

First prize is $10,000 and will go to the school whose students save the most electricity at their homes. Second prize is $8,000, and third prize is $5,000. HECO has pledged to provide the prize money.

"Along with our own DOE project to see how much electricity individual schools can save," said Hamamoto, "this home energy challenge will help students learn the importance of energy conservation and take those lessons home to benefit their families and the whole community."

In January, the department launched a pilot project with 14 schools to see how much energy they can save over the next six months. The idea is to mandate the best techniques throughout the system starting next year.

As an incentive in this program, schools in the pilot project will keep half of the savings they make.

This effort is part of an energy-savings initiative launched a year ago by the governor and then mandated in the schools by the Legislature.

In this new DOE-HECO partnership contest, schools will have until August to return a letter of intent to participate in the program, which launches in October.

To participate, the school must have a parent or staff member act as coordinator and at least one-quarter of the student body participating.

The challenge will run from October of this year through March of 2008. HECO will compile records from their files of participating students' home usage from the same period of October 2006 through March 2007 for use as a comparison.

In a statement, HECO senior vice president Robbie Alm said the company knows Hawai'i's energy future "will depend on greater use of renewables, especially biofuels, on the utility's side of the meter, and greater awareness of energy conservation on the customers' side.

"We know when Hawai'i kids say to their parents, grandparents, uncles and aunties, 'We need to save energy,' adults will listen," said Alm's statement. "Further, we know that today's elementary school kids are tomorrow's business and residential customers. If they learn the habits of energy awareness, conservation and efficiency as kids, they have a better chance to be responsible energy-using adults."