This fall, Loudoun County students will have an opportunity to enter an environmental awareness contest with lasting results.
They will design a light-switch-plate sticker that encourages everyone to turn off the lights when leaving a room. Three winners will be selected, one from each of the elementary-, middle- and high-school levels, said John Lord, energy education specialist.
THE CONTEST is sponsored, in part, by Energy Education, which focuses on the use of behavior modifications rather than retrofitting or adding onto a school’s equipment. Professionals, such as Lord, provide recommendations on reducing consumption and lowering the cost of utilities. In this way, the savings can be directed toward education costs, he said last Tuesday.
"The winning designs will be turned into vinyl stickers that will be placed in all the schools of each level," he said. "It will be a savings idea that will stick."
The winners will each receive a certificate, a $1,000 U.S. Savings Bond, and a lasting reminder of their creativity. The school with the winning student will receive a plaque for display in the building.
LORD AND Mike Barancewicz, another energy education specialist, presented examples of commercially created light-switch-plate stickers at the School Board meeting last week. They carried slogans, such as "Help our environment, conserve," "Keep it OFF when not in use," and "Please Conserve Energy! Turn off the lights when not in use." One of the designs depicts a World piggy bank with money filling it up.
Barancewicz said the benefit would be the students’ increased awareness and use of energy savings habits. "Another would be the energy savings due to reduced lighting usage," he said.
Energy Education presented the School Board last week with the Loudoun Energy Lighthouse Award for saving $14.5 million through environmental conservation measures in the last 12 years. Since May 1, 1993, Loudoun’s schools have avoided using 148.8 million kilowatt hours. That is equal to 20,828 cars being removed from the roads for one year, or 43,143 acres of tree being planted, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.