SEE in Action

Burrel Union Elementary is a small rural school in Fresno County where most students only speak Spanish – but these kids know how to use energy wisely and are sharing their knowledge with kids on the other side of the world.

Our Students learn to use technology to gather, and record data on the temperatures in our classrooms. We are working hard to conserve energy in our district. We are recording temperatures in all classrooms three times a day to make sure all thermostats stay between 68-70.

The fourth and fifth graders are learning the importance of energy efficiency and their role now and in the future, by learning how energy use affects the rest of the world.

The students are learning about thermometers and thermostats by recording the temperatures in each classroom during the day and at recess. They chart the findings and report them back to the teachers.

Students have made door hangers as rewards and reminders for the classrooms. Smiling faces greet those demonstrating good energy use habits and frowning faces greet those who need to be reminded to use energy wisely.

The biggest and most exciting project for the year is the "Uganda Project:"

Students at Burrel are being filmed as they use the National Energy Education Development (NEED) Project's Science of Energy Kit-the students do the activities and explain what they are doing at each station.

We are learning about Hobo Henry-the DATA Logger-and how to use him to back up the temperature readings that we take each day in the classrooms.

This completed video tape along with a Science of Energy kit of materials will be sent to Uganda. In this way, the students at Burrel will be able to teach the students in Uganda about energy sources and how to use energy wisely.

At Burrel, the study of energy efficiency and conservation goes beyond science class to include social studies, geography, math, and language arts.

The students at Burrel are very excited about their projects, and look forward to going to school every day.

Where you tell us how your school is saving energy

SEE Participants are encouraged to share their stories of energy-saving activities. Whether it's an exciting classroom activity or an individual project, we want to hear about it!

During the 2005-2006 school year, we will select one SEE in Action submission each month to post on our website.

Click on the Submission Form below to share your story.

Here's what people are saying about the School Energy Efficiency Program:

"This program has been valuable to our district and has provided a resource that would not otherwise be available to our small, rural district."

"I highly recommend the program to any organization that needs help with energy management."

"This project was a useful tool in demonstrating energy efficiency concepts in a way the students can understand...The students were very excited by the hands-on Fisher Manufacturing presentation."

-Lance Omeje, Science Teacher
Turner Elementary School

Demonstration Project Description

The Turner Elementary School, located in Fresno Unified School District (FUSD), serves roughly 906 kindergarten through sixth grade students. Turner's kitchen facility provides approximately 390 breakfasts and 660 lunches per day, five days per week. The kitchen is equipped with a commercial conveyer type dishwasher and a pre-rinse sprayer is used to pre-clean the serving trays and cooking and preparation pots and utensils. The pre-rinse spray value used in the kitchen is standard and very typical of the showerhead type spray pattern pre-rinse sprayers found in the market.

Through valuable partnerships with Fisher Manufacturing, FUSD school district facility and education staff, the State and Consumer Services Agency, and D&R International, the Turner kitchen was retrofitted with an energy and water efficient pre-rinse spray valve that was donated and installed by Fisher Manufacturing. The low-flow sprayer installed can save as much as 4.9 gallons of hot water per minute as compared to standard valves. Furthermore, the performance of the water and energy saving spray valves are equivalent to standard sprayers. Laboratory testing has shown that the fan-spray pattern used by the low-flow valves cleans as well as the showerhead-pattern standard spray valves while using less hot water.

Energy & Cost Savings

Table 1 shows that the retrofit provided an energy, water, and sewage cost savings of $611 per year. Over the five year expected life of the valve, this translates into a total cost savings of $3,055. Furthermore, the low-flow sprayer has an average cost of $50, which is equivalent to a typical standard spray valve. The low-flow spray valve will more than pay for itself in the first year from cost savings or the low-flow valve can be installed when the existing valve is scheduled for replacement.

Integrating the School Site Into Classroom Activities

The Turner demonstration project educated the district facility managers about energy efficient technologies and their applications, and also to served as an educational resource for teachers and students. To begin the process of using the school site as a teaching tool, the project team—including D&R, the FUSD Science Department, school administrators, students and teachers—was involved in the planning and design of the project from its inception. This enabled them to understand the project component and develop appropriate educational lessons. The following highlights various ways the project team integrated the project into classroom activities:

• Students conducted pre- and post-installation quantitative analysis.
• Students analyzed the energy, water, and sewage cost savings resulting from the low-flow spray valve upgrade.
• Visual demonstrations highlighted the differences in the two spray valves.