Climate Clever Energy Savers 4T project

Making the case for change Explore energy usage and what is means to be sustainable. Step 1

What is energy and what does being sustainable mean? K What I already KNOW W What do I WANT to know? L What have I LEARNT?

How can we improve energy consumption in our school? What do we already do well in our school in terms of energy usage and being sustainable? Brainstorm

What do you know about the different types of energy? Renewable EnergyNon- Renewable Energy Discuss in your pairs/ small groups: nergy/renewable/ Check out this website!

What do you know about the different types of energy? Renewable Energy  Renewable energy sources like the sun, wind, waves and heat of the earth are used to make electricity.  Can be used again and again and should not run out.  Are either carbon neutral or do not produce greenhouse gases.  Therefore much less harmful to the environment. Non- Renewable Energy  Most of our electricity comes from power stations that use fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas to generate the electricity.  You can’t make any more non-renewable energy and eventually they will run out.  Produce greenhouse gases.  Harmful to the environment.

Facts and Figures  The cost of energy for 2281 government schools in New South Wales for the 1998 calendar year was:  Electricity: $21,885,182 = approximately 220,000 tonnes of CO 2  Gas: $4,099,934 = approximately 20,000 tonnes of CO 2.  This approximates to tonnes of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere.  If reductions of 15% were achieved across the state, we could save $3.9 million and reduce emissions by tonnes. If we achieved 25%, we could save $6.5 million and reduce emissions by tonnes of CO 2 annually.

Defining the scope for action What can we do to reduce energy usage in our school and to improve how sustainable we are? Step 2

Electrical Appliance Number of hours of usage per day Lights Air conditioner/ heater Temperatu re: Computer 1 Computer 2 Computer 3 Computer 4 Computer 5 Smart board Fans Stereo Television Other (please specify) ____________ Mini Energy Audit CLASSROOM: Day 1 Date: Weather outside: (cloudy/ sunny..):

Results of Energy Audit for 4T Classroom Electrical ApplianceNumber of Hours of usage per day Lights8 hours Air Conditioner/ Heater4 hours Computer s6 hours Smart Board3 hours

The following table illustrates the impact of electrical equipment at a theoretical school of approximately 500 students. While some equipment may appear inexpensive and less harmful to the environment, the cumulative impact of multiples of them within the school can have a greater overall impact on the costs, both environmentally and financially.

A Electrical Appliance B Number of units C Average Wattage (Kw) D Number of hours of usage per day E KWh per day F Approxi mate cost per day (based on $0.27 KWh) G Number of days in use per year H KWh used per year I Approx. cost per year. Lights 100W Air conditioner/ heater 2.5 Kw Computers 305 W Smart board projector 1.5 W Smart board speakers 20 W Fans 25 w Television 80 w Other (please specify): ____________ Add any extra equipment (column A). Count the number of each piece of equipment, remembering to count individual light bulbs, etc. (Column B). Find out the energy usage, in watts, for each electrical appliance (column C). Use the data from the Energy Audit to determine how many hours per day each unit is used for (column D). Use the following formula to calculate KWh (kilowatts per hour) used per day: Number of units x average wattage x hours per day = Kwh 1000 Multiply this last figure by $0.27 to estimate cost per day (column F). Find out how many days of use per year each unit gets (column G). Multiply KWh used per day by number of days used per year to calculate KWh used per year (column H). Multiply cost per day by number of days used to calculate cost per year (column I). Add up each of the last two columns for your totals. Energy Cost Calculator

Mini Energy Audit  Conduct mini energy audit to identify energy consumption in our school.  Focus on a classroom in each block of the school:  D Block (Seniors)  Infants Block  Primary Block  Identify usage of electrical appliances – lighting, fans, heating.

The following graphs are examples of the breakdown of usage of electrical energy in schools. The primary school sample was of 11 urban schools, while the high school sample was of 9 urban schools, all surveyed in 1997.

Energy Cost Calculator  Calculate the approximate cost per year of each electrical appliance in our classroom.  Which appliance is costing the most?

Developing the proposal for action Brainstorm possible ideas for plan of action. Step 3

What have other schools done well?

Plus, Minus, Interesting: PlusMinusInteresting Evaluate each of your improvement ideas. Think about the financial cost and suitability in our school.

Proposal  As a class, let’s decide on an action to reduce the energy consumption of our school.  Map out an action plan:  How much will the action cost?  How long will the action take to implement? When will the action take place?  Who will be responsible for implementing the action?  How will we monitor/ evaluate the effectiveness of the action?  Ensure that the action plan is prepared and ready to present to Mrs Taylor by Week 3 (Monday).

Implementing The Proposal Step 4

Evaluating and reflecting How effective was our action plan? Step 5.

Evaluation and Monitoring:  Calculate data for energy usage AFTER the action was implemented and compare this to the data BEFORE the action.  Was our action plan successful?  What are the strengths and weaknesses of the action?  How can we present our findings to the school and wider community to promote energy conservation?

Reflecting:  Reflect on the following since the ‘Clever Climate Energy Savers’ (CCES):  Changed behaviours  Changed actions  Changed attitudes.  How well did we work together on the CCES program?  Can we think of further ways we could improve the sustainability within the class, schools or home?

WEBSITES  Sites 2 see - e/Sites/LRRView/13830/ e/Sites/LRRView/13830/  Conducting an energy audit in school. ement/assets/media/energy_management.p df  Carbon footprint calculator