Scotsburn Elementary School got energy efficient for the holidays!

Grade 4 & 5 students at Scotsburn Elementary School got energized last month! Ms. (Sarah) Grant combined her Grade 5’s with Ms. (Beth) Cole’s Grade 4’s, and the 42 students participated in an hour-long, interactive presentation. Students went away with a better understanding of the concept of energy efficiency and how to have better energy saving habits. They also all received a Green Schools stamp for being such great listeners!

The presentation included an introduction about Green Schools NS (a program of Efficiency NS), and how Engagement Officer Pam helps to deliver the program and gets to visit schools and students just like them. Pam then presented “Getting Started with Energy,” with videos about how to save energy, the story of electricity in NS, and energy efficiency.  

Throughout the presentations, students had some great questions and stories, such as “How does my family get LED lights?” to which the answer was “By calling Efficiency NS for the free upgrades, or purchasing them at hardware stores, especially when Efficiency Nova Scotia’s Instant Savings Rebates are on!”

After the presentation volunteers came to the front of the class, and each of them held a common electric device, such as a lamp with different bulbs, a hair dryer, and different Christmas lights.  

The class worked together to line up their classmates with their devices from least energy used to most energy used, and they did an amazing job! They had the LED nightlight for least, and upon testing with the energy meter, it read an incredible 0W! Teachers alike were surprised to see how little energy LED Christmas lights took versus older style mini-lights. Everyone in the room was shocked to see how much energy the hair dryer took, at a whopping 1300W! Pam asked the students to imagine how much energy a dryer would take, if a small hair dryer took that much. The answer: “A LOT!!” This energy meter line-up activity gave the students a better understanding of our energy consumption, ways to reduce it, and the positive effects that will arise with energy efficiency.

After testing out the devices, the students had lots of stories to share. One student mentioned that his family had someone come in and replace all of their light bulbs and night lights, so they got to tell their class about the home install program by Efficiency Nova Scotia. Some of the students had some questions about where to get LED Christmas lights, and Pam informed them that any store that sells Christmas lights should also carry LED Christmas lights, and that we should read the packaging to check for “LED.”

Pam asked the classes if they wanted a Green Prize, and everyone enthusiastically replied, “Yes!” As they left for their gym class Pam gave them all a Green Schools stamp – a lot of them even wanted their stamps on their cheeks and foreheads!

At the end of the day, the teachers and students had all learned something new about energy and energy efficiency, and were excited to share their knowledge with their families and friends! Awesome job Scotsburn Elementary!