Document text
Students audit school's energy use Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Ashland Middle School sixth-grader Sara Garbutt ponders the lighting in her classroom. Guided by their teachers, students hope to save $30,000 in annual energy use at Ashland's schools. Ashland kids survey utility consumption in each school with a goal of conserving $30,000 worth By DAMIAN MANN Mail Tribune An Ashland High School science teacher hopes to use the seemingly boundless energy of children to conserve energy. In an ambitious project, Jim Hartman wants to harness the raw talent of elementary, middle and high school students to spearhead a three-year conservation program. Hartman's plan, endorsed by the Ashland school board recently, gives students the power to find ways to conserve $30,000 a year for the Ashland School District. At all seven schools, students are conducting energy audits of every classroom and will develop strategies to cut consumption by 10 percent by next year. "This is your auditing device," Hartman told his science students Monday when he held up a pencil with a piece of toilet paper taped to it. "You hold this next to a window to see if any air is coming in or going out." Most of the old-fashioned windows at the high school seemed to be a bit drafty, according to the gently waving pieces of toilet paper that students took from class to class. Students at other campuses also noticed the windows were a bit leaky. At Ashland Middle School, sixth-grader Edwin Lee held a pencil with a bit of toilet paper up to a window. "I am checking to see if any wind blows in at all," he said. His teacher, Susan Frey, said the toilet paper was even recycled. "A custodian was just throwing the end of a roll into the trash and I rescued it." It's this kind of recycling effort that Hartman is encouraging, hoping to cut trash production by 10 percent from its current 1,940 cubic yards a year. He has contacted custodians and parents to get them involved in the project, anticipated to last three years. "I've been studying environmental issues for about 15 years," said Hartman. "We have to use less resources." In Canada, he said, 2,700 schools have embarked on similar conservation programs. Hartman wants students to extend their efforts beyond the school by avoiding fast food, which requires more energy to prepare, and by stopping junk mail, which uses up paper. Beyond the preliminary audits, Hartman's students will come up with a plan to cut the district's annual utility usage, currently at 1.3 million kilowatt hours of electricity, 53,073 therms of natural gas and 2.7 million gallons of water. Some things may be easy to correct, such as making sure computers go into sleep mode, a savings of about $5 a year. Other things like insulating windows and doors, or correcting the middle school's heating system that overheats some classrooms, could prove more daunting. Some classrooms, like Hartman's, have more than 100 light bulbs, which could be replaced with more energy-efficient ones. Hartman hopes to get support from the community and the city of Ashland. By next year, schools could have spring-activated faucets, aerators to save water, more recycling, and landscaping that requires little or no water. During an energy audit of his own classroom, Hartman discovered leaking windows and the hot water set to 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit), rather than the optimal 47 degrees (117 Fahrenheit). Junior Sophie Green said, "I was conserving things in my house. I'm using a cloth towel instead of a paper towel. I've saved a lot of things in my house." Although she acknowledges that many of the ideas may be hard to follow, Sophie said, "I think Ashland conserves more supplies and resources than other places." Junior Tiffany Raines didn't think saving $30,000 was too much. "It's a fraction of what this town can put together." Sixth-grader Ashley Blazinski said, "I've been recycling all of my life. Why not do it at my school and help the environment?" Reach reporter Damian Mann at 776-4476, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.