BWMS get energy curriculum boost from OEP

By LENNY C. LEPOLA

News Assis­tant Man­ag­ing Editor

Thanks to the Ohio Energy Project Big Wal­nut Mid­dle School stu­dents are learn­ing to become wise con­sumers of energy while at the same time help­ing their fam­i­lies save money by reduc­ing energy waste at home today.

Since the Ohio Energy Project began in 1984 it has been pro­vid­ing com­plete, objec­tive and com­pre­hen­sive infor­ma­tion on sources and forms of energy, energy effi­ciency and con­ser­va­tion, and the eco­nomic and envi­ron­men­tal impact of energy use. AEP Ohio has part­nered with the Ohio Energy Project to offer the e3smart℠ Pro­gram since 2007, and local energy provider Colum­bia Gas came on board in 2012.

Mid­dle school sci­ence teacher Keri Kotchoun­ian said the ball got rolling when she attended an e3smart℠ Pro­gram work­shop in Wor­thing­ton, where the Ohio Energy Project is based.

“I liked it so much, and felt that it works in so well with our aca­d­e­mic con­tent stan­dards that I men­tioned it to our other sci­ence teacher Rich Smith and inter­ven­tion spe­cial­ist Kevin Mas­ter­son,” Kotchoun­ian said. “Then Be E3 Smart Edu­ca­tion Coor­di­na­tor Chris Dier­durff did a pre­sen­ta­tion for our teachers.”

Kotchoun­ian said the Be E3 Smart has six mod­ules, includ­ing an energy use introduction.

In the mod­ule on light and heat bulbs stu­dents learn that using just one com­pact flu­o­res­cent light (CFL) bulb in the home can save $62 in elec­tric­ity costs.

In the heat­ing and cool­ing mod­ule stu­dents use a liq­uid crys­tal ther­mome­ter to take heat loss tem­per­a­tures; in the insu­la­tion mod­ule they learn about, and how to con­trol, air leaks.

Dur­ing the water mod­ule stu­dents tested water tem­per­a­ture and used flow meter bags pro­vided by Colum­bia Gas to test shower water usage.

The month-long energy and renew­able energy cur­ricu­lum mod­ule con­cluded with energy use by appli­ances like a home refrig­er­a­tor and range.

“Ohio Energy Project’s Be E3 Smart pro­gram has been really well received,” Kotchoun­ian said. “Our stu­dents shared what they learned in school with their par­ents, and they learned how as they grow older energy will impact their adult lives.”

Along with instruc­tion, each stu­dent received free energy sav­ings items like com­pact flu­o­res­cent light (CFL) bulbs to install at home, an LED night­light, a low-flow shower head, faucet aer­a­tors, weather-stripping and a door sweep.

In addi­tion to free train­ing par­tic­i­pat­ing teach­ers also received class­room instruc­tional sup­plies — includ­ing watt meters, lamp bases, ther­mome­ters, radiome­ters, lam­i­nated games, and pre– and post-test materials.

For addi­tional infor­ma­tion about the Ohio Energy Project and the e3smart℠ Pro­gram go to < ohioenergy.org >.

Posted by Gary Henery on Feb 20 2013. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.