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Energy Kits - FREE Resource

As a result of some unused grant funding, several energy kits have been purchased for the school district. These Kits are from the NEED (National Energy Education Development) project. The kits are grade-specific and contain teachers and student guides as well as the supplies necessary to conduct several basic experiments on the topic of energy. More information and free student and teacher guides are found on the NEED.org website

Here is a listing of the kits and their intended purpose.

High School Level Science of Energy Kit plus 10 sets of consumables -- include background information and hands-on experiments to explore the different forms of energy and how energy is transformed from one form to another. Groups of students master six stations, then teach others about the energy transformations at their stations. Teacher demonstrations are included to introduce the unit. Reinforcement activities are also included. The stations include equipment to teach transformations focusing on kinetic and potential energy, heat, light, motors, batteries, and electromagnetism.

Subject Areas: Science, Math, Language Arts, Public Speaking.

Middle School Electroworks Kit -- This guide includes background information and hands-on experiments to explore the basic concepts of atomic structure and electricity. Included are center-based experiments on static electricity, batteries, magnets, electromagnetism, and circuits. The kit comes with a detailed Teacher Guide, a class set of Student Guides, and most of the equipment necessary to conduct the experiments. The materials not included in the kit are readily available in the classroom or at home.

Subject Areas: Science, Math, Language Arts, Technology.

Elementary EnergyWorks Kit -- The EnergyWorks guides include background information and hands-on experiments explore motion, light, sound, heat, growth, and powering technology. Teacher demonstrations are also included.

Subject Areas: Science, Math, Language Arts, Technology.

Primary Science of Energy Kit -- This guide includes background information and hands-on experiments to explore the fundamental concepts of energy. Students explore the science of motion, heat, sound, and light

with a series of simple activities that incorporate both English and metric measurements, using safe student thermometers, balances, rulers, measuring tapes, beakers, and graduated cylinders. Primary students learn to make observations, measure, record results, compare and contrast, categorize, make predictions, analyze and graph results, and draw conclusions.

Subject Areas: Science, Math, Language Arts, Technology, Social Studies.

Primary Solar Energy Kit -- Primary students are introduced to solar energy with a read-aloud book and

classroom-based activities. Students will learn that the sun’s energy produces light, transforms to heat, powers the water cycle, produces wind, and that solar cells convert radiant energy into electricity. The kit includes a Teacher Guide and the materials necessary to conduct the activities.

Subject Areas: Science, Language Arts.

Energy Efficient Design of New Middle School

Building Shell

The shell of the new building is insulated with sprayed on foam. It has a much higher “r” value than fiberglass insulation which is sometimes used. It also has the advantage of not settling as it ages.

The main entrances have a vestibule which has a double set of doors to keep the conditioned air in.

Lighting

Lighting in a school can account for nearly 25% or the total energy cost. So strategies for reducing the light costs are important. Lighting in the school is accomplished with high efficiency T5 fluorescent tube lights in the classrooms and hallways and augmented with Compact Fluorescent Recessed Can Lights to provide specific light where needed. These T5 lights are 35% more efficient than typical fluorescent lights. (In the old middle school there were 4 fluorescent bulbs per fixture. These new fixtures only contain 2 fluorescent bulbs and provide more light with less cost.)

Lights are controlled with occupancy sensors in hallways, classrooms, media centers and restrooms. This further reduces the cost of operation since the lights are on only when people are occupying an area.

Gym lighting is accomplished with fixtures containing multiple T5 bulbs and replaces traditional metal halide lighting. The energy savings in the gym is approximately 30% over traditional methods and has instant on capability. Other advantages include longer life and brighter light over a longer time period.

Daylight Harvesting is used in the stairwells. This is a technique of using natural light to supplement the artificial lighting. The natural light is free.

Exit Sign Lighting is accomplished using LED lights which use only 2 watts compared to traditional exit lighting which is 40 watts. Considering that these fixtures operate continuously, the annual savings for each exit light is approximately $33.

Lighting Control

In addition to the occupancy sensors, the building lights are controlled by timers. All the lights in the school go “dark” at 10:00 pm except for the Exit Sign Lighting. This is in contrast to most schools which have every third fixture as an emergency light which remain on 24/7. Emergency lighting in this new middle school is accomplished with a backup generator which activates the lights only when necessary.

HVAC

Heating and Cooling in this new school is accomplished with geothermal exchange. Wells have been drilled on the exterior grounds of the schools. For a better explanation of a geothermal exchange see the attached article.

Water Heating

Water heating is also augmented with the geothermal system.

Geothermal Exchange

Owen County Schools

Facilities and Maintenance

Bids and Surplus

Facilities and Maintenance Staff

District Facilities Plan (DFP)

Energy Center

Energy Information For Teachers

Facilities Rental Information and Agreement