The Greening of Benton Jr. High Presented by the BJH Branch of the Saline County Youth Environmental Ambassadors

YEA Team members met with their sponsors and mentor Parker Higgs to discuss ideas. The group decided that the best way to start our efforts at going green was to find ways to reduce our electrical use.

STEP ONE We decided we would entice the teachers by trying to catch them being green. If a team member saw a teacher turning off lights and computer monitors, the member gave the teacher a “Caught Being Green Card” that could be turned in for a treat!

STEP TWO Parker explained to us how to measure foot-candles (FC) of light. We had to be sure that if we asked teachers to reduce the number of lights used in their rooms, that there would still be enough light to create an optimal learning environment! With all of the lights on in a classroom, we measured 54 to 80 FC. With 12 bulbs turned off, the range was between 40 and 64 FC which falls into the optimal range for a classroom!

STEP THREE Crunch the numbers! We had to show that we could save energy and money through doing something as easy as turning out a few lights. Total Full Lighting Energy (kWh) Total Saved Lighting Energy (kWh) Utility Rate ($/kWh) Utility Savings 99,166-23, $1,902 Room Type # of Rooms # of Fixtures # of Bulbs per Fixture Total # of Bulbs Watts per bulb Daily Burn Hours # of Days/Yr Annual Burn Hours Full Lighting Energy (kWh) Saved Lighting Energy (kWh) A ,44033,178-11,060 B ,44025,805-3,871 C ,44014,193-3,871 D ,4402, E ,4401, F ,4402, G ,4404, H ,4401, I ,4401, J ,4402, K ,4403, L ,4406,

Almost $2,000 per year!?!?! Parker helped us use the formulas to figure up how much money our school could save if each teacher agreed to keep one row of lights turned off. We determined that there was plenty of foot candles to create an optimal learning environment by using a light meter and testing rooms of different sizes. When we crunched the numbers, we found that our plan would save the school $1,902! Total Full Lighting Energy (kWh) Total Saved Lighting Energy (kWh) Utility Rate ($/kWh) Utility Savings 99,166-23, $1,902

STEP FOUR Recruit the teachers: YEA members went to each teacher to explain our plan. The teachers then had the opportunity to Take the Pledge that they would turn off 3 fixtures in their rooms. Since each of the fixtures contains 4 bulbs, they were committing to turning off 12 bulbs for the 180 scheduled school days for the entire 8 hour day.

Gathering Signatures

STEP FIVE Spread the word! To students and faculty: The PowerPoint presentation will be added to the school information TV screens that play during lunch hours. To school patrons: The project will be submitted for inclusion in the monthly Panther Pride newsletter that is sent to all school patrons. To Saline County: Tiffany Dunn, Marketing Director of our County Recycling Organization, will be presenting our project to the RSWMD Board of Directors!

Future Steps Next year, we are going to ask for teachers to volunteer to have bulbs removed from the fixtures. When custodians, substitute teachers, or others are in the room, this ensures that others won’t accidentally turn the lights on!

BJH IS GOING GREEN!