Green news from Georges P Vanier Junior High!

Ms. Melina Kennedy’s Grade 8 Science classes at Georges P Vanier Junior High in Fall River will be learning all about optics. Ms Kennedy invited Green Schools in to discuss energy and electricity with her students and explore different types of lighting options and see which light bulb types are best in terms of cost-efficiency and energy efficiency. The students were able to use energy meters to explore power use in different electronics. Then the students compared the different types of light bulbs on Christmas light strings as well as the different types of individual light bulbs. They looked at a 100W incandescent, a 23W compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) and a 9W Light Emitting Diode (LED). Can you guess which drew the least amount of power? If you guessed the LED – you are correct! About 11 times less power!

Now, what about monetary costs? Well, if you’re only considering the cost of buying the bulbs upfront, the incandescent costs about $0.50 and the LED around $7. However, if you consider the costs of the bulbs over a period of time, the value changes. Consider that the incandescent only lasts you 1000 hours whereas the LED can last up to 25,000 hours. You’re going to have to replace your incandescent 25 times during the length an LED bulb could last! This means you’ll actually pay $12.5 in total for the incandescent bulbs and that’s before considering savings in energy and on your electricity bill. Want more details about those calculations and want to do them yourself? Check out the resource links below.

The students at Georges P Vanier all had great ideas for ways in which they could save energy and encourage others to do so each and every day in turn making it a societal norm. Ms. Kennedy gave the great analogy about how only a few decades ago in Nova Scotia everything went into the garbage – recycling and composting were basically non existent at the municipal levels. However, individuals took it upon themselves to start and change behaviours and the momentum grew. Today, thankfully, we know better than to litter and throw everything in the garbage. And when we visit places where recycling and compost are not separated it feels wrong and hurts throw it all in the garbage. Let’s do that with saving energy – let’s make it the norm!

Photo credit: Melina Kennedy