With Earth Day recently passing, certain issues involving the environment, such as energy consumption and water usage, have been looked at more harshly.
A significant amount of energy is used at Godwin in order to accommodate thousands of students each day. Energy is used to power lighting, temperature, and water throughout the school year.
Most of the electricity consumed comes from air conditioning and heating. Since the lighting is fluorescent, more energy comes from charging laptops and running projectors than from the lighting.
The students only have control of the water usage. Gallons and gallons of water are flushed and emitted from faucets. Water is also used in lab activities, maintenance, and irrigation of athletic fields.
According to biology and environmental science teacher Bishop Bosher, the majority of the water we consume comes from the 60-75 percent used in the irrigation of athletic fields.
Although water consumption may be heightened, Godwin’s design does include some features that conserve energy.
Bosher said, “It is possible that the lack of windows in the school were done to cut back on energy waste since windows are a major place for heat loss.”
Although students do not have control of lighting or heating, there are some options to conserve energy and be more environmentally friendly.
As previously stated, charging laptops has a larger impact on the electricity usage at Godwin than the lighting. Students canmaintain a longer battery life for their computer by not running several applications at once and cutting back on gaming.
The ability to reduce the need to charge and use of electricity are a few simple ways to decrease energy waste.
Additionally, electricity can be conserved by not leaving doors open, which causes the heat and air conditioning to go to waste.
When doors are propped open in the afternoon when students are leaving for the bus loop, heat or cool air goes to the outside and requires more energy to reproduce.
Since students affect the water usage more than anything else, becoming more environmentally friendly requires being more conscious of the water we use.
“Kids could use cold water to wash their hands since hot water will require energy to heat,” said Bosher.
Although there are many controlled factors for energy consumption, students and teachers are able to aid with the consumption of water and energy by making conscious decisions throughout their day.
