What would your school do with $10,000? Install light sensors? Upgrade to energy and water efficient appliances? The National Environmental Education Foundation’s (NEEF) Sustainable Energy Award, sponsored by Samsung, awards $10,000 to three high schools that can demonstrate how they have engaged students and teachers in school-wide energy savings through creative and innovative use of technology.
Did you know that schools spend $6 billion every year to power their facilities? There is a huge opportunity to reduce that spending through simple changes in behavior by teaching students and administrators the power of collective action. For ideas, take a look at GEF’s Green Energy Challenge curriculum, audits, and activities. Take that challenge one step further and start making technological improvements to reduce energy and water consumption. Install solar panels, new toilets, rain barrels, or weatherstrip your windows, reduce hot water temperatures, and use native plants for landscaping – the possibilities are endless. Making these changes not only saves money for the school that could be used for teacher salaries, new computers, or books, it also transforms the school into a learning lab. What better way to investigate important STEM concepts than by using the world you’re most familiar with – your home and school building?
Submissions for the Sustainability Energy Award are due by February 10, 2012. Learn more and apply on the NEEF website: http://neefusa.org/energyaward.htm