Wendy Leung, Staff Writer Inland Valley Daily Bulletin   Turn off the lights when leaving the room. Close the windows when the air conditioner is on. Switch to energy efficient light bulbs. There is a slew of advice out there about electricity consumption - measures that can save a chunk of change. But $1 million? In the past 28 months, the Etiwanda School District saved $1,150,381 after participating in an energy conservation program that got the district to evaluate its consumption habits. The Texas-based company Energy Education Inc., which helps 794 school districts across the country, will present the district with its Energy Pacesetter Award. "I am surprised at how quickly we got there," said Superintendent Shawn Judson about surpassing the $1 million mark. "I didn't think we were wasting energy before, but it just shows you that if you devote energy to it, it leads to a lot of savings for the district." Behind the district's accomplishment is Tony Bomortino, a full-time teacher who also puts in 15 to 20 hours a week to get the district's 15 schools up to speed on conservation know-how. When Bomortino sees a certain classroom doing its share, he leaves a green note of encouragement behind. These have become coveted messages that some teachers collect and showcase in the classroom. "I remind people to conserve every day with TLC," said Bomortino. "Thermostats, lights and computers." There are many myths about energy consumption, Bomortino said. For instance, some people think keeping fluorescent light bulbs on lengthens the lifetime of the bulb and is energy efficient (it is not) or that keeping a computer on standby is cost-efficient enough (it is not). "It's not a big deal to leave one computer running. Yeah, it might only save 50 cents, but when you multiply that with all the employees in the district, it comes out to $1 million in 28 months," Bomortino said. Etiwanda is not the only district seeing a fatter pocketbook after developing consumption savvy ways. In five years, the Corona-Norco Unified School District saved $11.2 million at its 44 schools. Fontana Unified School District, after six years in the program, saved $7.5 million at its 41 schools. Rusty Haller, the energy manager at Corona-Norco, said the program lets him monitor schools from his home computer, allowing him to see whether the lights and air conditioning units are on during off hours. Like other energy managers, Haller visits classrooms often to make sure everything is turned off at night, including computers. "When I walk the schools at night, I just want to see a dark room. In the beginning, I'd see a lot of computer labs with computers turned on. Now it's exciting to see darker schools at night," Haller said. "They think I'm the energy czar, I'm just the quarterback giving out the plays." At a time when the cost of utilities is increasing, these districts are able to bolster other programs with their savings. Fontana Unified plans to use the savings toward building its two new schools, and Etiwanda has been able to keep its class size reduction and music programs.