By: Alison Meng, Nathan McNeil, Patrick Fearon and Liam McDonald January 2013 Environmental Science 120

Lux- The SI unit for luminance, equal to one lumen per square meter. Watts- What is the unit for power. Kwh- Is a unit of power, equal to kilowatt of power used over an hour.

 The standard light bulb is watts.  The recommended lux for a classroom is lux.  Cost of 1 Kwh for NB is 8.72 cents.  105 classrooms in the school.  Average time lights are in use everyday is 9 hours.

We wanted to see how much money and how much energy could be saved by taking out some lights in classrooms.

Xplorer GLX Pasport Light Level Sensor

Survey Collected Light Intensity Data No Windows + Ceiling Lights Windows + Ceiling Lights No Windows + Lamps + Ceiling Lights

23%

87%

81% 16%

58% 41%

We found that Mrs. Sewell’s classroom has an average LUX level of This is right in the middle of the ideal range from Our Recommendation: No lights should be taken out of this classroom because it well exceeds the recommended lux level.

Mrs. Sewell’s classroom

We found that Mrs. Blake’s classroom had an average Lux of With the recommended lux level being , Mrs. Blake’s classroom well over the recommendation. Our recommendation: Lights can be taken out of Mrs. Blake’s classroom, however, they can also be turned off and still reach the lux level recommendation because of the large window in her classroom.

Mrs. Blake’s classroom

A graph from Mrs. Blake’s classroom

In the final classroom that we collected data from, Mrs. Prescott's room, the average lux level was Mrs. Prescott’s room uses lamps and the ceiling lights are hardly ever turned on. There are no windows in this classroom. Our recommendation: Lights should not be taken out of this classroom. It is well within the recommended lux level.

A graph from Ms. Prescott’s classroom

Each light bulb is 32 watts. Each classroom has 24 lights. There are 105 classrooms in the school. 32W X 24 bulb X 105 classes X 8.5 Hours = Kwh/Day Kwh/Day X 195 Days = 141,531 Kwh/Year 141,531 Kwh X $0.087 = $12, per year.

We talked to different teachers in the school and asked them if they wanted any lights taken out of their classroom. Some teachers wanted certain lights taken out some teachers didn’t want any lights taken out for the teachers who did want lights taken out, we drew up an outline or blueprint of their classroom.

This is blueprint from one of the classrooms we went to. The X’s represent lights being taken out. Mr. Dunfield’s classroom and the attached Physics lab.

NB Produces 500g CO 2 / kWh Lighting at FHS produces 66.9 Tonnes of CO 2 /yr.

With lights taken out of classrooms we could save up to $6000 a year and stay within recommended lux levels. There are many classrooms that can have their lights taken out without there being problems with completing class work. In addition, lights can be taken out and still be within the recommended lux levels. classrooms with large windows can turn off their ceiling lights and save energy and still have enough lights to work. classrooms that use their ceiling lights frequently can switch to lamps and use their ceiling lights less.