High school students on the Sunshine Coast took part in the BC Hydro Energy Ambassador program in April, creating energy saving ideas and putting them into action.
The ambassador program is geared toward students in grades 8 to 12 and groups of students at Pender Harbour, Chatelech and Elphinstone secondary schools signed up and did their part to decrease their energy footprint.
“The students each ran with it in the ways that they felt worked best,” said Jennifer Callaghan, BC Hydro Energy Ambassadors coordinator, during the May school board meeting.
“The goal of the program is to encourage and help enable students to think about energy and sustainability in their schools and take action.”
That action came in the way of a lights-out event at Chatelech, according to student engagement lead Johan Stroman, who said the school-based energy conservation initiatives developed by students were “a great fit with the new curriculum.”
In Pender Harbour, students benefited from the use of a portable solar unit in April. Student Michelle Fielding said the unit was used to make a solar powered phone charging station at the high school, as part of the ambassador program.
“I ended up covering all of the power outlets in the school with tiny little mottos like ‘unplug your device, stop melting ice,’ and ‘use solar there, save a polar bear,’” Fielding said.
At Elphinstone Secondary, students created Hibernation Day in an effort to save energy, which saw the school shut off its lights and heat for one day in April.
Student Quinton Ruth said not everyone at the school bought into the idea, but even with some classrooms leaving lights on, the energy and financial savings were notable.
“The benefits from Hibernation Day was we were able to save $70 by turning off the natural gas supply and boilers for the day, with an additional $43 [savings] in electricity,” Ruth said.
“So $113 was saved. With an extrapolation over 200 days that would equal [about] $20,000 in savings for the year. That’s a lot of money.”
Ruth said he’d like to see the day extended to possibly a week and be adopted at all high schools and elementary schools on the Coast next year.
The school district’s manager of facilities, Rob Collison, said he was glad to see the ambassador program run so successfully in its first year on the Coast. He thinks next year even more kids will get involved.
“We are encouraging students to help lead change at schools. It’s all part of understanding that we all have a responsibility to be energy aware,” Collison said.
