Oak Ridge students create energy savings

OAK RIDGE, Mo. -- Twenty-two students at Oak Ridge High School discovered a way to save their school district thousands of dollars each year by cutting energy costs.

With the help of technology teacher Wayne Bock, the students conducted a three-month energy audit of the district's four main buildings.

What they discovered was when they replaced the existing lightbulbs and light fixtures' ballasts with more efficient ones, the energy costs dropped dramatically.

In Bock's room alone the students figured the annual cost of lighting the room would drop by $282. Districtwide the savings could be as much as $11,280 per year.

"The cost is going to be considerably reduced on our current buildings, but next year we are adding two new buildings," said superintendent Cheri Fuemmeler. "Basically we are just going to transfer the savings to the new middle school and multipurpose building opening in the fall, and hopefully it will balance."

The idea for the energy audit started in spring 2001.

Fuemmeler said the district received a loan from the Department of Natural Resources to make energy-saving adjustments to the district's buildings.

At the same time, Bock was looking for a way to develop a curriculum for his students that would give them an opportunity to learn about scientific processes while doing community service.

Fuemmeler said the lighting phase of the adjustments naturally aligned with Bock's ideas.

"Mrs. Fuemmeler suggested I write a service learning grant because it matched perfectly with what I had in mind," Bock said. "The whole purpose was to introduce the students into volunteering and teach them about science in the process."

Bock said he also wanted to develop a way to teach hands-on lessons about heat, light and energy because students scored poorly on questions relating to energy on the 2000 Missouri Assessment Program.

In July, Bock learned he got the grant that would provide $5,000 for heat and energy science lab equipment, a computer and a light meter.

When school started in the fall, students in Bock's classes on principles of technology and modern technology formed the Green Team.

Their first assignment was to make signs for every light switch in the buildings to remind students and teachers to turn off lights when they use the rooms for less than five minutes.

"The signs were just a reminder that if you change your habits, the little things that cost nothing to do like turning off a light can mean big savings," Bock said.

After all of the signs were distributed, the team created maps of every room in every building and wrote down how many lights and ballasts there were in each room. Then they calculated how much money it would take to replace all of those items and how much it would save in a year.

Bock said the cost of retrofitting all of the bulbs and ballasts would be paid off in two years.

Replacement effort

In December the Green Team members and school maintenance crews started replacing the bulbs and ballasts.

Ashley Zoellner, a sophomore and one of only three girls on the Green Team, said she liked the experience because if it weren't for the class, she would have never learned how lights and ballasts work or how to replace them.

"It was fun being one of the only girls," she said. "I got to do some stuff that was girlie, but I got to prove that I could do just as much as the guys could do, and sometimes more."

Both sophomore Tyson Schmidt and Zoellner said they couldn't believe the amount of savings that the district would get from just changing a few bulbs.

"I just thought it would be a couple of dollars here and there, not a couple hundred," Schmidt said.

hkronmueller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128