Learning to be energy-wise

West Lake Junior High students put classroom knowledge to work, help school cool its
power bills

By Twila Van Leer
Deseret News staff writer

Science teachers at West Lake Junior High School have harnessed a well-known energy source — pre-
and early teenagers — to reduce the school’s energy consumption.
In seven of the 10 months included in the 2001-02 school year,
West Lake’s energy bill went down. For the other three months, the
consumption stayed the same. Overall, a trend toward increasing
power usage at the school was reversed. (Just logging results and
preparing charts comparing the figures was an exercise in
mathematics, teachers said.)

In the process, science teachers were able to do what they like
best. "We try to do real science. This is real science," said Randi
Nelson-Rogers, chairman of the West Lake science department. "And
we’re able to preserve our natural resources at the same time."
The school became involved through a partnership with Johnson
Controls, which in turn promoted a project through the National
Energy Foundation. The foundation, located in Salt Lake City,
promotes similar projects through its Academy of Energy in schools
across the country, said Anne Lowe, program and special projects
administrator.

"Johnson Controls has been our business partner for years, and they contacted the NEF for us," said
teacher June Christiansen. Gene Alberico, Johnson Controls account executive who interacts with the
school, said the company paid tuition for teachers to take courses at Utah State University as part of its
financial commitment to West Lake.

Six of West Lake’s cadre of seven science teachers received the USU training in science areas related to
energy. They then collaborated to develop curriculum to be used in grades seven, eight and nine. The energy
information easily fit into and enhanced curriculum already required by the State Office of Education for
students in those grades, said Nelson-Rogers.

Classroom instruction, however, was just the prelude to practical
application of what the students had learned. Ninth-graders designed
solar cars, with financial assistance from the Utah Energy Office. And
Utah Power supported eighth-graders by providing about 300 "very
impressive energy-efficiency" kits designed to reduce energy
consumption at home, said teacher Ella Mae Johnson.

"We did a lot around our house. We saw that windows and doors
were better fitting," said Garret Walton, who will be going into eighth
grade this fall. He was one of a group of energetic seventh-graders
who conducted building inspections at West Lake, testing doors and
windows for air leaks. With a piece of plastic wrap attached to a pencil,
the students could detect such leaks — and they found a lot of them.
"There was not one single door that did not have a breeze blowing
through it," a student report said. The students alerted the school’s
custodial staff to problems that could be fixed with easy adjustments.

An Energy Patrol also scouted classrooms and alerted teachers to lights and computers left on
unnecessarily. Stickers asking for prudent use of electricity were posted. An assembly was presented to
pass information to students who weren’t part of those science classes that were becoming energy
conscious, said Christiansen.
Nelson-Rogers said the school energy-watchers also asked for help from Granite District to build
vestibules behind the main doors of the school to minimize the escape of heated air out the doors and the
in-flow of cold air from outside during the winter and hot air in the summer months when air conditioning is
in use. They backed up the request with information that suggested the costs of building vestibules would be
offset "in a couple of years" by energy savings. The proposal is on the district’s list of building upgrades to
complete as money becomes available.

During the school year, the consumption of electricity at
West Lake went down even though 63 new computers added
to the demand. That meant savings in power bills, which
usually cost the school approximately $5,000 per month, said
principal Art Cox.
The greatest potential effect of the pilot program at West
Lake, however, will be lifestyle changes in the students, said
Christiansen. And Johnson agreed that "with youth, these
things become a way of life."

The NEF program has two objectives, said Lowe: to teach
energy conservation and wise stewardship of resources and to
reduce energy consumption in schools. Both objectives are
being achieved at West Lake, she said. Cutting energy costs at
schools has the potential for putting more money into more important education goals, she noted. The
rising costs of energy are consistently on the lists of financial problems plaguing education during some tight
budget years.

The pilot program will continue for three years and hopefully will be adopted by other local schools, Lowe
said.

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http://www.sltrib.com/08062002/utah/759406.htm