This article was written by Fernando Vasquez who recently graduated from Burnsville High School.
Energy conservation is something that most people know about, but few actually incorporate into their daily routines. Good information and awareness are the keys for more people to conserve energy. The Burnsville High School (BHS) Green Team decided that the most effective way to share this information was through launching a district-wide student energy patrol called the 191 Power Police, and conducting a “power blitz,” modeled after the University of Minnesota’s student Power Police program.
We paired up with a group of students from Sioux Trail Elementary school to hold the first “power blitz” at William Byrne Elementary School on Earth Day 2014. The purpose of the “blitz” was to educate others in the district about wasted energy. The Sioux Trail students had just recently helped their school win a district-wide energy conservation contest called “191 Battle of the Buildings,” and they all looked eager to share their knowledge.
We could clearly see the curiosity in the eyes of the kids at William Byrne as we stood in front of a classroom of 30 students. I began talking about vampire power—the energy used when electronics are plugged in and using energy in standby mode (even though you think they’re off). Using a Kill-A-Watt meter, we showed students how the energy is still used. We shared that simply switching off a power strip would stop wasted energy. Leaving the elementary school, our team was confident that students understood enough to make a difference at William Byrne.
Next, a group of the 191 Power Police presented to staff at the District Administrative Services Center. We wanted to convince administration that energy conservation is something that many people care about, since they have the most power to implement energy saving technologies (like automatic time switches for computers). During the presentation, we used the Kill-A-Watt Meter to show that the projector used around 4 watts when turned off, which would be around $4 for a whole year (according to the University of Minnesota’s Power Police calculations). Then I asked them to imagine how much it would cost them if all of the projectors in the district were added up!
At the end of our presentation, I reminded them about what’s truly important. I said, “Energy conservation saves money, but that is not the main reason why we should strive to conserve it. Any energy we use or create affects the environment, which should be our main concern. We cannot succeed in improving our environment without educating our current generation. We will be the ones that ultimately feel the long term effects of our current actions. We don’t know what the future will look like, but we hope that we can work to make it the best it can be.”
The 191 Power Police student energy patrol was modeled after the University of Minnesota’s Power Police program and developed in response to their successes. The University of Minnesota’s Power Police program was introduced to Burnsville Independent School District in February 2014 when students from the U’s Active Energy Club visited and shared about their experiences in the Power Police program.
More information on the original Power Police program at the University of Minnesota >>
