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.Jessie-Ruth Corkins found a way to heat her schoolwithout using fossil fuels and to save money in the process.SUCCESS STORYBURNING FOR CHANGEIt started with $100 an innocent challenge from Jessie-Ruth Corkins s ninthgrade earth science teacher, Mr.Tailer.He offered cash from his own pocketto students who could come up with a greener, more environmentally friendlyway to heat Mount Abraham Union High School in Bristol, Vermont.Jessie-Ruth and her friend Christi Kroll stepped up to the plate.Little didthey know that their simple science project would end up becoming a majorenvironmental, social, and political issue and not just for their high school,but for the whole state of Vermont!Jessie-Ruth started by making phone calls to research renewable heatingoptions and discovered that burning wood chips instead of oil would be thebest fit for her school.The wood could be harvested in her town and trucked tothe school from only half a mile away.The process of using a locallyharvested fuel burned in stoves that were partially manufactured in Vermontwould reduce the school s carbon footprint.Once she discovered this was the best option, she had to look at theeconomics and what it would cost to retire the two oil burners that werealready in the school.She called the local oil company to find out how much the school had spent for five years of heating and compared it to the price ofwood chips, which turned out to be cheaper.Considering that oil prices wereprojected to keep increasing, wood chips offered a lower, more stable price forfuel.But she still needed to figure out a way to pay for the initial cost ofbuying and installing a new wood chip furnace, which would cost nearly $2million.Jessie-Ruth and Christi got a break when they discovered a state grantoffering 90 percent aid to fund renewable energy projects in Vermont publicschools.That meant only 10 percent would come out of local taxpayerspockets.This was huge! Nineteen other schools in Vermont had alreadyswitched to wood chips using these grants, so they had a strong track record touse in their efforts.Jessie-Ruth lobbied local constituents leading up to Town Meeting Day,when local residents elected their town officials and passed local budgets.Shespent the day passing out flyers and talking to people on the street, trying toget them to understand and approve the project.In the end, the voters approvedthe project by a very slim margin. Since the wood chip furnace was installed, it has KEPT MORE THAN500 TONS OF NEW CARBON EMISSIONS FROM being added to THEATMOSPHERE.By the time I was a senior, savings had tripled to $90,000per year.We had succeeded! - JESSIE-RUTH CORKINSIn addition to wasting energy in classrooms and with HVAC systems,campuses are huge water hogs.The good news is there are many easy ways toreduce your campus s water consumption. Reducing Water UseWhile 1.3 billion people on the planet don t have access to safe drinkingwater, an enormous amount of America s potable water supply is used forthings like watering lawns or flushing toilets.For example, six thousandgallons of water will be used daily at the average size middle school, simply toflush toilets! Just as it requires tons of water to collect and transport energy, italso takes a lot of energy to collect, clean, and transport water.Plus, althoughfreshwater supply is finite, global water demand doubles every twenty years, atmore than twice the rate of human population growth.Pollution andoverextraction in many regions of the world has reduced the ability of watersupplies to meet the growing demand.In the coming decades, water shortageswill become a major worldwide problem affecting practically every nation onearth.As a result, water efficiency is an easy and money-saving green measureto conserve such a precious resource!Audits can be helpful tools in this case as well, to assess the water usage(and wastage) on your campus.Once you identify the biggest water hogs, hereare some ways to be water-conscious:Install rain shut-off devices on sprinkler systems.Adjust the water used seasonally.Use drip irrigation systems instead of sprinklers.Irrigate at night rather than during the heat of the day.Apply mulch to help retain soil moisture, so the area will require lesswatering.Install rainwater catchment systems as an alternative water supply, withrainwater collected and stored for future use on school grounds.Convince your campus to replace grass and exotic plant species withregionally appropriate plants whenever possible.Landscape with the native plants that thrive in your local area, whicheliminates the need for chemical supplements and requires minimalmaintenance from the grounds staff.In addition, they provide habitat for localwildlife.If you live in a dry, arid area, be sure to use drought-tolerant plants.Convert old toilets to low-flush toilets or no-flush urinals [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.Jessie-Ruth Corkins found a way to heat her schoolwithout using fossil fuels and to save money in the process.SUCCESS STORYBURNING FOR CHANGEIt started with $100 an innocent challenge from Jessie-Ruth Corkins s ninthgrade earth science teacher, Mr.Tailer.He offered cash from his own pocketto students who could come up with a greener, more environmentally friendlyway to heat Mount Abraham Union High School in Bristol, Vermont.Jessie-Ruth and her friend Christi Kroll stepped up to the plate.Little didthey know that their simple science project would end up becoming a majorenvironmental, social, and political issue and not just for their high school,but for the whole state of Vermont!Jessie-Ruth started by making phone calls to research renewable heatingoptions and discovered that burning wood chips instead of oil would be thebest fit for her school.The wood could be harvested in her town and trucked tothe school from only half a mile away.The process of using a locallyharvested fuel burned in stoves that were partially manufactured in Vermontwould reduce the school s carbon footprint.Once she discovered this was the best option, she had to look at theeconomics and what it would cost to retire the two oil burners that werealready in the school.She called the local oil company to find out how much the school had spent for five years of heating and compared it to the price ofwood chips, which turned out to be cheaper.Considering that oil prices wereprojected to keep increasing, wood chips offered a lower, more stable price forfuel.But she still needed to figure out a way to pay for the initial cost ofbuying and installing a new wood chip furnace, which would cost nearly $2million.Jessie-Ruth and Christi got a break when they discovered a state grantoffering 90 percent aid to fund renewable energy projects in Vermont publicschools.That meant only 10 percent would come out of local taxpayerspockets.This was huge! Nineteen other schools in Vermont had alreadyswitched to wood chips using these grants, so they had a strong track record touse in their efforts.Jessie-Ruth lobbied local constituents leading up to Town Meeting Day,when local residents elected their town officials and passed local budgets.Shespent the day passing out flyers and talking to people on the street, trying toget them to understand and approve the project.In the end, the voters approvedthe project by a very slim margin. Since the wood chip furnace was installed, it has KEPT MORE THAN500 TONS OF NEW CARBON EMISSIONS FROM being added to THEATMOSPHERE.By the time I was a senior, savings had tripled to $90,000per year.We had succeeded! - JESSIE-RUTH CORKINSIn addition to wasting energy in classrooms and with HVAC systems,campuses are huge water hogs.The good news is there are many easy ways toreduce your campus s water consumption. Reducing Water UseWhile 1.3 billion people on the planet don t have access to safe drinkingwater, an enormous amount of America s potable water supply is used forthings like watering lawns or flushing toilets.For example, six thousandgallons of water will be used daily at the average size middle school, simply toflush toilets! Just as it requires tons of water to collect and transport energy, italso takes a lot of energy to collect, clean, and transport water.Plus, althoughfreshwater supply is finite, global water demand doubles every twenty years, atmore than twice the rate of human population growth.Pollution andoverextraction in many regions of the world has reduced the ability of watersupplies to meet the growing demand.In the coming decades, water shortageswill become a major worldwide problem affecting practically every nation onearth.As a result, water efficiency is an easy and money-saving green measureto conserve such a precious resource!Audits can be helpful tools in this case as well, to assess the water usage(and wastage) on your campus.Once you identify the biggest water hogs, hereare some ways to be water-conscious:Install rain shut-off devices on sprinkler systems.Adjust the water used seasonally.Use drip irrigation systems instead of sprinklers.Irrigate at night rather than during the heat of the day.Apply mulch to help retain soil moisture, so the area will require lesswatering.Install rainwater catchment systems as an alternative water supply, withrainwater collected and stored for future use on school grounds.Convince your campus to replace grass and exotic plant species withregionally appropriate plants whenever possible.Landscape with the native plants that thrive in your local area, whicheliminates the need for chemical supplements and requires minimalmaintenance from the grounds staff.In addition, they provide habitat for localwildlife.If you live in a dry, arid area, be sure to use drought-tolerant plants.Convert old toilets to low-flush toilets or no-flush urinals [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]