POWAY - When it comes to trimming energy costs on its campuses, the Poway Unified School District is doing more than just turning off the lights after school: it's looking to green building designs, solar panels and energy-efficient ways to cut annual utility bills in half and generate revenue, district officials said this week.

From adding renewable energy panels to roof tops of soon-to-be-constructed schools, to installing heat reflecting windows and housing classroom and offices all under one building, the district said it will be able to conserve energy and dramatically rein in the cost of rising utility fees at three of its schools.

"We are really looking at how these buildings are going to be using energy down the road," Ken Miller, the district's project manager for new construction said this week. "It's not going to be cheaper."

The district's green, or energy-efficient building designs for its new school facilities, surpass state standards and could mean thousands of dollars in annual savings to taxpayers.

That includes Monterey Ridge Elementary - which opened in August with district-owned solar panels on the roof - the district's fifth comprehensive high school, Del Norte, to be completed in the Fall 2009 and Del Sur Elementary, where construction is expected to start in the coming weeks.

"I'm giddy when I go over there and look at the property," Miller said of the 10.2 acre lot in the heart of the Del Sur community housing development, which will house an 800-student elementary school as early as July 2008.

"I've always wanted to do one of these projects and we finally had a situation where it all worked out," he added.

While Del Sur is not the first green school in the district, the $29.5 million school will be the first facility where the entire building concept and architectural plans by San Diego-based NTDStichler were driven by a desire to conserve energy and create energy for the school.

With the classrooms, offices and educational space under one single roof, using high energy-efficient light bulbs and heat reflecting windows, the district expects to cut about a fifth of its energy costs, Miller said. They will also save on heating and cooling costs due to fewer exterior walls and a smaller roof in the two-story building, he said.

That could potentially mean slicing as much as $12,000 from the school's annual utility expense, when the average cumulative cost of powering an elementary school is between $40,000 and $60,000 a year, Miller said.

"That's our goal," Miller said, noting that no exact figures will be available until the school is finished and opened for at least a year.

Monterey Ridge on the other hand, where the district installed 20,000-square-foot solar panels along a neighboring hillside, is expected to slice as much as half of the energy expenditures over the year. The panels, Miller said, will be able to build up an energy supply for the school during the summer months, when the facility is not in use, and provide a surplus of energy during the school year.

"All they do is sit and produce energy and give it back to the grid," Miller said. "We are giving power back … and saving money."

Solar panels are also a possibility at Del Sur Elementary and Del Norte High School, Bruce Thompson, one of the NTDStichler architects working on the projects, wrote in an e-mail. The difference, however, would be that San Diego Gas & Electric would own and operate the panels, not the district.

The district would generate money, not power, by leasing the space for the energy companies use.

Overall, Thompson said, by planning ahead and spending money up front for an energy-saving design, the district and its taxpayers will save "over the lifetime of the school."

Construction costs for the new schools are basically split between the state and the district, Miller said. About half of the expenses will be covered by California's state school building fund and half will come from the district's community facilities district funds -- money generated by special taxes levied by the school district on new community developments.

Poway Unified also expects to get an additional $294,000 in state grant monies for surpassing state energy standards and qualifying for certification as a high-performance school.

The message, Miller added, is clear: Building schools for the future means more than just including advanced technology access, it means becoming innovative in the designs and energy conservation efforts, which can result in considerable savings for the district.

"For the kids that are growing up and going to these schools, this is going to be their world," Miller said. "There is going to be much more attention paid toward energy efficiency."

- Contact staff writer Shayna Chabner at (760) 740-5416 or schabner@nctimes.com.