Energy

Welcome to RSU 21’s Energy and Environmental Concerns Advisory Team’s webpage. The team was formed in the spring of 2006 and members include school staff, teachers, parents, and community members.

· Reduced Carbon Dioxide Emissions. Carbon dioxide, produced when fossil fuels are burned, is the primary gas contributing to global climate change. Kennebunk and Kennebunkport, as coastal communities, are more likely to feel certain effects of climate change – such as sea level rise and more intense, flood-producing rains than some inland towns.

A recent mapping study by the non-profit Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM) shows that our towns are among the 20 Maine towns most threatened by possible sea level rise in coming decades. See www.maineenvironment.org for more details.

· Improved Air Quality. The American Lung Association of Maine reports that children are more sensitive to air pollution than adults. Maine has the highest rate of childhood asthma in New England, and asthma is aggravated by air pollution. For more information, look at http://www.mainelung.org/.

· Educating Our Students. We hope to make our students more aware of energy issues – including where our energy comes from, the financial and environmental costs of energy use, and ways to avoid wasting energy.

Below are some examples of the steps MSAD 71 has taken toward reducing waste & creating energy efficiency since the fall of 2005:

Electrical A district-wide lighting audit led to lighting upgrades district-wide in the summer of 2006 – bulbs, ballasts, and fixtures were replaced, motion sensors installed where they weren’t already, and “vending misers” were added to vending machines.

The lighting upgrades should save $50,000 a year in electricity bills. Was there a big up-front cost to the district? No - almost $50,000 for the project was obtained from Efficiency Maine, a Maine Public Utilities Commission program. This money will help pay for the upgrades until the electricity savings kick in. After 5 years, the lighting will be paid for and the electricity savings will go right to the district. Check out Efficiency Maine’s website for more information on the services they offer to schools, businesses, towns, and other groups: www.efficiencymaine.com

Other electrical changes included making sure the schools’ 900 computers were turned off during school vacations to save thousands more dollars each year. We are also going to inventory the electrical components of the district buildings and use an Energy Management System software to track preventive maintenance & insure that when parts need to be replaced, an energy-efficient replacement is considered.

TRANSPORTATION Beginning in the fall of 2005, SAD 71’s school buses went to a “No Idling” policy to save fuel and improve air quality near the schools. Small, efficient heaters in the buses allow drivers to warm buses quickly without idling. Buses are now running on ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel (required by state law). A pending grant applied for with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) would pay to upgrade exhaust systems on 18 buses so they get better mileage with lower emissions.

Energy & Environmental Concerns Advisory TEAM This team was formed in the spring of 2006, and meets monthly to focus on particular issues including:

We’d like to see further reductions in electricity bills come from changes in behavior (such as turning off lights when people leave a room). As an added incentive, a portion of these savings would be returned to the teachers & students responsible!

Building principals met with the director of the Maine Energy Education Program (MEEP) this summer to discuss ways to bring energy education into the classroom. Middle School teachers have worked on MEEP’s model solar car project for a number of years, but MEEP offers other programs as well. Check out MEEP’s website at home.psouth.net/~meep/

Why recycling? Making paper from recycled paper, for example, uses less energy than creating it from trees so recycling saves energy and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. But we hope that by recycling more we will also reduce our trash collection fees, which are assessed on the basis of weight.

Several parents and staff members are working hard on recycling education and student involvement. The elementary schools are planning to participate in “Maine Recycles” week this fall. See http://www.state.me.us/spo/recycle/mrw/ for more details on this statewide program.

Math Problem:

What are the financial and environmental benefits of riding the school bus?

An informal survey tells us that on an average day, 380 cars arrive in the five parking lots of MSAD 71 schools as parents drop their children off at school.

The exact math might be impossible to do, but consider these "back of the envelope" calculations: Say the average parent drives 2.5 miles to school, returns home, and does the trip again when school lets out. That means the parents are putting 10 miles a day on their cars for each of the 178 school days or 1,780 miles for the entire school year. Multiple that total by the 380 parents mentioned above and we come to an astonishing 676,400 miles driven per school year!

And what are the costs of those 676,400 miles?

First, let’s look dollars and cents. Let’s use the arbitrary but realistic mileage figure of 20 miles per gallon for every car pulling into our school parking lots. 676,400 miles at 20 mpg gives us a total of 33,820 gallons of gasoline purchased. At today’s prices of about $2.50 per gallon, that’s $84,550 of parental spending on transporting children to and from school!

And what do those 676,400 miles mean for the environment? At 20 miles per gallon, 1 pound of carbon dioxide is put into the air for every mile driven. 676,400 pounds, more than 300 tons, of carbon dioxide, the primary gas contributing to global climate change. Other pollutants also come from those 33,820 gallons of gas. Also, the American Lung Association reports that transportation sources contribute more than half the total man-made air pollution in the U.S. today. And children, because of their small size, are much more sensitive to air pollution than adults.

For Homework…

For more information on Global Climate Change and how it might affect Maine, take a look at www.maineenvironment.org. This Website, by the Natural Resources Council of Maine, also has information on what individuals can do to reduce energy use and save money in their personal lives. The extra credit assignment, below, was adapted from an NRCM brochure.

For extra credit…

1. Change a Light – Replace one regular light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb (from the local hardware store) and save 150 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. Go an extra step – purchase your home’s electricity from renewable sources by signing up for Kennebunk Light & Power’s Village Green or a similar program.

2. Drive Less – Walk, bike, carpool, combine errands, or use public transportation when you can. You’ll save one pound of carbon dioxide for every mile you don’t drive.

3. Recycle – Kennebunk has a top-notch curbside recycling program. Save thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide each year by recycling your paper, plastics, glass, and metals.

4. Check your Tire Pressure – Check your car’s tire pressure regularly. Properly inflated tires improve gas mileage by more than 3%. Every gallon of gas saved prevents 20 pounds of carbon dioxide pollution.

5. Watch your hot water – It takes lots of energy to heat water. Install inexpensive, low-flow showerheads (350 pounds of carbon dioxide saved per year) and wash your clothes in cold or warm water instead of hot (500 pounds saved per year).

6. Turn it down – Move your thermostat down just 2 degrees in winter and save several hundred pounds of carbon dioxide per year. Go an extra step – evaluate your insulation levels or hire an energy auditor to recommend energy-saving tips.

7. Plant a Tree – A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime.

8. Unplug it/Turn It Off – Simply turn off your TV, DVD player, stereo, and computer when you’re not using them and save thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide a year. Battery chargers and appliances such as microwaves with lit displays use energy (sometimes lots) whenever they are plugged in – consider leaving them unplugged when not in use. Go an extra step – check out your electric bill. The U.S. Department of Energy says a typical American house uses 830 kilowatt hours of electricity per month – how does yours measure up?

9. Choose Energy Star –Look for the Energy Star seal when purchasing new appliances. Follow Energy Star guidelines when building or renovating your home. There are homes in the Kennebunk area with yearly energy bills that total just $200 -$300. Visit energystar.gov.

10. Eat Locally – The average meal travels 2,000 miles from farm to table. Energy expended harvesting, processing, and transporting our food is a major contributor to carbon dioxide emissions. Purchase produce, seafood, and other foods from Maine whenever you can.