- [Liz] You can hear the sounds of progress (tools pounding) echoing down the hallways as you walk with Greg Libecci around Hillside Middle School.

- Here's our recycling.

We have contractors coming in, we'll probably have 20 yellow vests with hard hats.

- [Liz] On the day of our tour, construction crews were busy.

(ceiling tiles rattle) - We, hold on a second, these guys are... You can go in that way too.

- [Liz] Retrofitting old familiar spaces (blinds whirring) with new light.

- [Greg] That is a lot of lights in this school, and we're gonna convert every single one of them to LED.

- [Liz] Equipped with an updated title, Energy and Sustainability Program Manager.

- That is a mouthful, huh?

- [Liz] Libecci is at the helm of this expansive project to make the Salt Lake City School District more sustainable.

- You know, would you mind if I take the box?

- No, absolutely.

- Okay.

These are massive amounts of money that are now out there, and a lot of it is slotted toward K-12 like never before.

That does make now a really good time to implement this stuff.

- [Liz] By "stuff", he means adding new faucets that help conserve water, (water splashes) solar panels so schools and school buses can generate their own electricity.

- [Greg] We're inching closer to two megawatts of solar production at the school district.

- [Liz] As the person in charge, it would be easy for Libecci to take credit for this work.

- I was hired essentially to manage projects that helped us be efficient.

- [Liz] He's been vocal about the need for sustainability changes in the district for years.

- [Greg] This planet could use a lot of help.

- [Liz] But Libecci insists it was a group effort, led by students from Highland East and West High Schools.

In 2020, those students presented a sustainability resolution to the Salt Lake Board of Education, asking the district to create a plan to use 100% clean renewable energy in the district's electricity sector by 2030.

They also challenged the district to meet 100% of all district operations energy needs with carbon-neutral energy by 2040.

The board unanimously approved the resolution.

- Their behavior and decisions are what will make the change.

- [Liz] But even the smallest change, (tool whirs) having a far-reaching impact.

- We want all classrooms and all students to have the best possible learning environment.

- [Liz] That, he says, will eventually pay for itself.

- What we did was look at the solar and the LED conversions as a package and bring in a third party to guarantee what the savings would be from the energy reduction and the production from the solar, and say, "Well, you'll save, if you do all these things, over a million dollars a year.

And you could take that to the bank and use that million dollars in utility savings to actually pay to get the work done today."

- [Liz] Saving the district money while also trying to save the earth.

- It comes from the heart.

So to have some sort of impact on that way of thinking I think would be most gratifying.

- [Liz] I'm Liz Adeola for "Utah Insight".