Carbon footprints shrink with student efforts
Light meters. Infrared thermometers. Phantom load. Most of these words are probably a bit puzzling and technical sounding to a lot of people. However, many Minnesota students are throwing around these terms with ease as they work to make their schools more eco-friendly through the program, Minnesota Schools Cutting Carbon (MnSCC).
An initiative of Clean Energy Resource Teams, the Minnesota Office of Energy Security, and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, MnSCC hopes to help state schools reduce their carbon footprints. The U.S. Green Building Council found that school buildings are inefficient energy consumers, and can often waste energy in the neighborhood of up to 25 percent. Energy Star notes that nationally, K–12 school districts spend more than $6 billion on energy every year.
Monetary incentive
Begun in the fall of 2008, MnSCC offered $500 grants to 100 high schools and colleges across the state to begin developing ways to be more energy efficient, such as buying recycling bins, planting trees, hosting green fairs, and more. The program also aims to get students involved with their schools’ projects through environmental clubs or teams.
MnSCC project coordinator Patrick Santelli says, “We saw it as the opportunity to create social change and change social norms. I think a lot of times students have great ideas, but they’re not sure how to start them or get them off the ground.”
One school that has taken part is Rosemount High School’s environmental group, the Irish Green Team, led by science teacher Veda Kanitz. She began the team as a faculty-only group, but in 2007 students gained interest after Kanitz covered waste issues in her 9th grade classes. The group enrolled in MnSCC and quickly began implementing a wide range of projects, including making the school a no-idle zone, creating a rain garden, and launching an awareness-raising poster campaign.
While schools carry out the projects, Santelli says MnSCC is able to provide technical expertise and resources. Experts visited each school, met with student teams, and led them on an energy walkthrough of the building. Students were able to see where their schools could be more efficient, and could even do some of the surveying themselves.
“The students were the ones taking pictures with infrared cameras and checking the light meters to see if the lights were too high,” Santelli says of the visits. “Students had this hands-on practice of working in the field and talking about energy.”
Kanitz agrees that Rosemount’s projects have great educational value for students. “They collected meaningful data and went through a very detailed evaluation of data and analysis, and then presented their findings,” she says. “They were using all those math skills that we want to develop for future testing and doing better in science.”
In January, MnSCC awarded over $200,000 in additional funding to 23 schools for long-term proposals. Rosemount’s Irish Green Team was one school to receive additional cash.
Keeping it long term
The group has ongoing plans for how to use the grant, but so far they have done a great deal to educate their school, including developing an energy unit for 9th grade students, purchasing tools such as light meters and infrared thermometers, and installing light sensors, power strips, and vending machine misers to help save energy.
The Irish Green Team hopes they can reduce their school district’s energy use 13% by the end of 2011, saving a staggering $700,000. “Saving money right now is very crucial for our district,” Kanitz says. “Any way we can help students learn how to conserve is going to be useful, both at school and at home.”
Kanitz hopes the program will continue to expand in membership and number of projects in the future, and she’s already beginning to research renewable energy such as solar and wind power for use at the school.
MnSCC will be around to help. Originally just a three-year initiative, Santelli reports that the program has received additional funding for another three years to continue to help schools save energy. “Students are so passionate, so we want to see them take the lead in conservation,” he says. “It will hopefully carry on through their lives.”
Lauren Peck was an intern with Minnesota Parent.
