Last year we wrote about the inaugural America’s Home Energy Education Challenge, a nationwide competition aimed at reducing energy consumption by targeting school age children (third through eighth grades) and their families. Last month Secretary of Energy Stephen Chu announced the winners. The competition was open to all schools, with five student teams in rural Carter County, Montana sharing in the $15,000 prize, which represents the regional and national purses. The overall reduction in energy use of 3.4% was achieved by collaborating with the utility, community, and the student groups. Working with a representative from Southeast Electric Cooperative, their local utility, to coordinate the effort and provide training, the Montana schools “included a significant focus on involving the community and educating students and families.”
The Challenge is a cooperative endeavor between the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and the Energy Department. Teams of students were challenged “to work with their science teachers and local utility companies to develop energy use savings plans that reduce the amount of energy used to power their homes.” In the Fall of 2011 teams measured and monitored energy usage for three months and compared these figures to the preceding year. NSTA President Patricia Simmons lauded the competition as “‘a perfect example of a dynamic, active learning experience that stimulates the interest and creativity of children.’”
Four regional winners each won $5,000. The regional winners include: Bell Middle School, Golden, Colorado; West Carter Middle School, Olive Hill, Kentucky; Cold Spring Elementary School, Potomac, Md.; and Siersma Elementary School Warren, Michigan. For a complete list of the Challenge winners click here. Estes Park Middle School in Estes Park, Colorado won $1,000 for the poster part of the competition, which encouraged students “to find artistic ways to continue to encourage their families and communities to improve the energy efficiency of their homes.”
An additional goals of America’s Home Energy Education Challenge are to teach children about the benefits of energy efficiency and to engage students to take part in their saving energy at home. The program is one of the DOE’s initiatives focused on educating today’s youth to become tomorrow’s clean energy leaders.
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