Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) unveiled on on Monday, August 26, a new sustainability initiative designed to both inform and monitor energy efficiency in houses and schools.

The Keystone Energy Education Program (KEEP), according to local news publication The Mercury, is a free series of workshops aimed at area middle schools to help educate students, teachers, administrators and building maintenance managers about how to better implement greener measures onto their property. The workshop lessons will touch on a variety of topics, including electricity generation, energy conservation, transportation fuel, careers in the energy industry and how to create benchmarks for tracking efficiency progress in schools and homes.

"Energy education is critically important for children, teachers and families," Jack Farster, DEP's Director of Environmental Education, told the source. "The KEEP program will enable participants to learn the importance of conserving or natural resources, the economics of energy sources and technologies and the value of clean energy for our environment, while enabling the school district to operate the school building more economically to save taxpayer dollars on utility costs."

The end result will find schools introducing more energy education into their standard curriculums to include lesson plans on teaching students about ways they can reduce energy consumption in their lives.

While the program may be targeting Pennsylvania schools, Maryland residents can work to educate themselves about efficiency by scheduling an appointment for a home inspection. By having your property assessed by Maryland home inspectors, you can learn about the different measures you can take to make your house more eco-friendly and bring down those costly utility bills in the process.