June 2008 — Features
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Green Schools : Electric Youth
Anja Caldwell, former manager of the SERT initiative and now the manager of the Green Building Program, another aspect of MCPS' conservation effort, says that recruiting students for the program is a snap. "There are two students in one of our high schools who are always with their wattmeters, showing teachers how much energy they're using," she says. "The kids really get into it."
The school's SERT teams help maintenance staff with the task of swapping out all T-12 and T-8 fluorescent bulbs with more-efficient, low-mercury T-8 fluorescent lighting. The new T-8 bulbs are made with a thinner glass tube than T-12s, producing more light per bulb, and contain less harmful mercury than older T-8 bulbs. That's where the light meters come in. Students measuring the light intensity in classrooms when every fluorescent overhead light fixture was in use found that the bulbs were emitting 120 foot-candles, the standard unit of light intensity. Caldwell says the ideal measurement for a classroom is 35 to 50 foot-candles; anything more can increase glare and tax students' eyes. By filling only half of the classrooms' existing fixtures with low-mercury T-8 fluorescent bulbs, the district has reduced not only its energy bill, but also the stress on students' and faculty's eyesight.
The SERT teams discovered another interesting fact with the aid of their wattmeters: Many teachers were keeping on their overhead lights while working in their empty classrooms during off hours-- 1,500 watts of energy were being used to light a room for one person. The teachers had no other option. The district began purchasing Ikea task lamps with compact fluorescent bulbs for the teachers' desks at about $10 dollars per lamp. By using a task lamp rather than overhead lights while working in the classroom alone, teachers used 15 watts of energy rather than 1,500. Suddenly, grading papers and creating lesson plans became much less expensive.
Taking the LEED on Conservation
Montgomery County Public Schools has finished construction on Great Seneca Creek Elementary School, Maryland's first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)-certified elementary school. Created by the US Green Building Council, LEED for Schools provides design and construction standards that account for the unique needs of K-12 schools. By treating Great Seneca Creek Elementary as an interactive classroom, the school's 640 elementary students have become experts on the green building materials and technology used in the project-- including dual-flush toilets, bathroom stalls made from recycled plastic, and a geothermal heating and cooling system that harvests the constant temperature of the earth.
For a student-created virtual tour of Great Seneca Creek Elementary School, visit here.
