From Guest Blogger Joel Smith: Five Useful Tips To Ensure Eco-Friendly Educational System
Having a more eco-friendly, and energy efficient educational environment is a great idea for many reasons. First of all, you can help save the school money in energy bills by doing some simple things. Second, it promotes environmentally friendly practices to your students, who may seek ways to improve their personal habits. Over the years, as the environment became more of a debated topic, recycling programs, energy efficient light bulbs, electric cars, and other innovations became mainstream. Consumers wanted to feel good about themselves and save money. That’s why being eco-conscious is a win-win for consumers and businesses – and academic institutions.
So here are 5 ways you can make your school more eco-friendly…
- Energy efficient computers and electronics. Most computers nowadays come equipped with ways to save energy. Whether it’s through LCD monitors or sleep modes that automatically turn off after a period of non-use, machines are becoming “smarter” and more efficient. You can also use power strips and change settings on computers to maximize efficiency.
- Recycle bins. This is probably the easiest and least expensive ways your school can promote eco-friendly behavior and make a difference. You can have separate bins for paper, cans, plastic, and landfill garbage. On top of this, you can put signs on the communal printers and fax machines urging people to print as little as possible. And of course, put a paper recycle bin next to any of these machines!
- Energy efficient lighting. Another simple way that you can make your school more energy efficient is using compact fluorescent light bulbs instead of incandescent bulbs. This can save you up to 3-4 times the energy, and you can probably get a bulk discount since you’ll need so many for an entire school. If you are building a new school or re-wiring the building, why not put motion sensors and timers that can better control how much light gets used. Then you won’t have to rely on humans (who are forgetful) to turn lights off after they leave the classroom.
- Use digital tools and textbooks. You know what else wastes a ton of paper, and also happens to be really heavy? You guessed it: textbooks. Instead of making your students lug around a backpack full of heavy books, get iPads and use online learning tools when you can. Have teachers house their syllabus and other course materials on an online platform. Associate, Bachelor’s, and Masters in Education students have digital textbook options nowadays. So why not take advantage? Your students will also appreciate not having the sore back from lugging all those books around!
- Avoid disposables. It’s easy to use disposable items, such as utensils and plates, cups and other items that usually wind up in landfills and take thousands of years to biodegrade. There are even examples of colleges that do not permit the sale of bottled water. This is an effort to get students and teachers to bring their own water bottles to school and raise eco-friendly awareness. If you have control over the cafeteria system, make sure you work with the administrators to make these kinds of commons areas as environmentally friendly as possible. Look for convenient places to put recycling bins, post signs and other ways that make it easy for others to participate.
Of course, there are a million ways you can help make your school more eco-friendly. Once you open your eyes and start looking, you’ll think of several more that aren’t listed here. Good luck making your school more ‘green’! Make sure to ask for input from other people who may have great ideas as well.
From the article:
“Energy efficient lighting. Another simple way that you can make your school more energy efficient is using compact fluorescent light bulbs instead of incandescent bulbs.”
That recommendation is more than half a century behind the times. In 1950, when I was in sixth grade, all the incandescent lights in the classrooms of McKinley School in Manitowoc, WI, were replaced with fluorescent tube lights. Since then, lighting class rooms with incandescent lights has become practically no-nexistent. There are very few fluorescent bulbs in schools; most of the lighting is by classical four-foot and longer fluorescent tubes. Eventually the fluorescent tubes should be replaced by LED strips designed to replace fluorescent tubes. They are somewhat more efficient and their longer life would reduce the labor required to replace fluorescent tubes thereby offsetting the higher price.
Omitted from the article was the energy used to transport students to and from school. When I was in school, from first grade through junior high school, most kids walked or rode their bicycles to school. Now they are driven, even if the distance is less than 1/2 mile. In addition to wasting energy, that contributes to the obesity epidemic.