Investing in Our Future: Making a Difference, One Light Bulb at a Time Helping the planet . . . Saving money . . . with energy efficient light bulbs

Inspiration As a part of a unit on solar panels and renewable energy, we calculated the school’s energy consumption in kilowatt hours. Seth, from VEEP, also came in and taught us about energy efficiency & compact fluorescent light bulbs

This led us to investigate which lights in the school are inefficient and consume a high amount of energy. We now hope to change these inefficient lights so that we can reduce the cost of our energy use as well as our greenhouse gas emissions.

Gym Lights The gym lights that we currently use in both Crossett Brook and Thatcher Brook are inefficient metal halides which consume 452 Watts per fixture. We found that we can replace these lights with fluorescent lights that consume only 232 Watts per fixture. In addition, these lights would be installed with motion sensors to further reduce energy consumption.

Commons Area and Office Lights The commons area and office lights that we currently use at Crossett Brook are also metal halide sconces which consume 295 Watts per fixture. We found out that we could replace these lights with fluorescent lights that use only 111 Watts per fixture.

Pulling it All Together: Energy We Could Save This graph shows the electric consumption of the two gyms, the commons areas, and the office per year. Energy consumption drops from 83,090kWh to 34,093kWh.

Money in Our Pockets Gym Commons + Office Combined Install Cost $11,115 $11,082 $22,197 EVT Incentives $5,850 2,875 $8,725 SL Grant N/A $1,500 LEAP Grant $2,250 Net Cost $5,265 $4,457 $9,722 Savings($/yr.) $2,346 $4,108 $6,454 Payback (yrs.) 2.24 1.08 1.5

Putting it into Perspective: Solar Panels vs. Lighting

Pulling it all together: Money we could save This graph shows that by switching to more energy efficient lights, the school could save over $6,000 dollars every year!

Savings Beyond our Pockets: Greenhouse Gas Emissions and our Planet According to Efficiency Vermont, for every kWh that CBMS does not consume, 1.3 pounds of CO2 will not go into the atmosphere.

Why Should We Care? Atmospheric CO2 levels naturally fluctuate over time. However, current atmospheric CO2 levels are higher than anytime in the past 650,000 years.

How Does Carbon Dioxide Affect Earth?

Possible Effects of a Changing Climate A Loss of summer sea ice, melting glaciers, & a rise in sea level A change in weather patterns, storm intensities and animal migration patterns. An increase in forest fires, heat waves, water shortages & droughts

Making a Difference Replacing the gym, office and commons area lights will reduce CBMS emissions of carbon dioxide by 64,000 pounds every year!

Saving 64,000 pounds of CO2 in one year is equivalent to: Our CBMS solar panels working for 3 years; or Moving almost 885 drivers from large SUVs to hybrids for ten years; or, Protecting 244 acres of tropical rainforest from deforestation; or, Replacing 122,000 refrigerators with the highest efficiency models.

Thanks to our Community Partners! Need picture of Bud VEEP Vermont Energy Education Program Bud Towndrow Maintenance Director CBMS Seth Rocks! We couldn’t have done it without you! 

Thank You! Questions or Comments?

A Parting Message: "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." - Dr. Seuss, from The Lorax