Onset Donates Software to School Energy Monitoring Program

Data logging tools help high-school students investigate school energy use, build case for energy-efficiency stimulus funds

BOURNE, MA, December 14, 2009 —Onset (http://www.onsetcomp.com), the world’s leading supplier of data loggers, today announced that the company has donated licenses of its HOBOware® graphing and analysis software to 22 high schools in southern Idaho.

The donated software, which will be distributed to each school through Idaho Power’s Students for Energy Efficiency Program, will be used to analyze school building energy use data which students are collecting with Onset HOBO® data loggers.

“Idaho Power developed this program to train high school students on how to perform energy efficiency assessments of their school buildings,” said John Bernardo, energy educator with Idaho Power. “Using a ‘Crime Scene Investigation’ format, the students are using light on/off and temperature data loggers to determine when lights are being left on in the schools, and to see if the buildings are being unnecessarily heated during the nighttime hours when no one is there.”

According to Bernardo, prior to Onset’s donation of the software, the schools had to send the data loggers back to Idaho Power for data offload and analysis. Now, the students will be able to handle these tasks independently, which Bernardo believes will enhance the learning experience and give them more immediate feedback on lighting and heating use.

Once the energy investigations are completed this winter, the students will compile reports and present their findings to school boards, superintendents, local community groups, and city councils throughout Idaho.

Bernado added, “We anticipate that by pinpointing opportunities for energy savings, the student recommendations will help strengthen the case for obtaining ARRA stimulus funds for energy improvements within each school.”

ABOUT ONSET
Onset is the world’s leading supplier of data loggers. The company’s HOBO data logger and weather station products are used around the world in a broad range of monitoring applications, from verifying the performance of green buildings and renewable energy systems to agricultural and coastal research. Based on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Onset has sold more than one million data loggers since the company’s founding in 1981. Visit Onset on the web at http://www.onsetcomp.com.

ABOUT IDAHO POWER
IDACORP, Inc. (NYSE: IDA), Boise, Idaho-based and formed in 1998, is a holding company comprised of Idaho Power Company, a regulated electric utility; IDACORP Financial, a holder of affordable housing projects and other real estate investments; and Ida-West Energy, an operator of small hydroelectric generation projects that satisfy the requirements of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978. IDACORP’s origins lie with Idaho Power and operations beginning in 1916. Today, Idaho Power employs approximately 2,100 people to serve a 24,000 square-mile service area in southern Idaho and eastern Oregon. With 17 low-cost hydroelectric projects as the core of its generation portfolio, Idaho Power’s 489,000 residential, business and agricultural customers pay some of the nation’s lowest prices for electricity. To learn more about Idaho Power or IDACORP, visit www.idahopower.com or www.idacorpinc.com .

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