West Northfield Elementary Green Team energy initiatives!

A few members of West Northfield Elementary’s Green Team met after school recently to brainstorm energy initiatives for their school with their Engagement Officer Natalie MacMaster! They are currently the only school in the South Shore Regional School Board with an ‘energy dashboard’. The students have been interested by the information displayed on the dashboard and are ready to make changes to decrease their energy and oil use.

The Green Team has a good understanding of why they need to save energy and are ready to make a big impact. They already have many ‘lights off’ reminders on switches throughout the school. They have had light motion sensors added to a few key locations in the school and have LED lights in their gymnasium. Recently the team listed all the things that use electricity in their school, highlighting which things may be ‘energy hogs’ and to target to decrease their electricity use.

The students used their new energy meter to look at power use of the three types of light bulbs, incandescent, CFL and LED. They immediately started listing off all the different things they could do with their energy meter! Next they looked at ‘phantom power’ (items that draw power even when turned off but still plugged in) in the room. They talked about expanding their approach to the whole school and how much energy is potentially wasted and could be saved. The Green Team felt really empowered and ready to make some changes!

The team chatted about the Green Schools Energy Navigators Activity to give them a clear picture of where the school currently sits with their energy use and where they need to focus. They also brainstormed fun activities they could do with the whole school to encourage everyone to have good energy use habits! The group is very keen to get started and next they plan to celebrate Sweater Day. We will have to wait to hear what other initiatives they take on this winter; will it be Lights Off Days, Power Down Friday, Heat Surveys and more Sweater Days, or even a Phantom Power Walk? All awesome ideas, great job West Northfield Elementarys Green Team!