Connecting Eating Patterns with Electricity Usage

Lai Cheng August 26, 2024 0 Comments
The “one-student, one-plant” concept introduced by CAP has helped students nurture and love plants. Growing plants helps to cool the surrounding air.

SJK (T) Bayan Lepas, Penang uses a holistic approach in energy conservation.  The school encourages students to eat foods and fruits that cool the body and to drink sufficient water to regulate body temperature in order to prevent body heatiness. A cool body tolerates heat better.  This indirectly helps to minimise use of fans and air-conditioners in the school.

“Eating right helps reduce electricity use” – TEACHER Jayamalar Rengasamy

We are witnessing an unprecedented level of global warming, and teachers have a responsibility to create awareness among students regarding this. Students must learn to see the connection between their daily activities and climate change. To realise this, we take one to two minutes to preach on energy-saving during our assemblies. With daily listening, the messages are gradually ingrained in the students.

There are potted plants all along the school’s corridors and on window sills. Plants and their natural processes can help regulate hot indoor climate.

We have created a “Save Electricity” corner to disseminate information on energy-saving and related issues. The film on “energy use and climate change” that we showed students had a great impact on them. Though the energy-saving initiatives were successful in our school, we are concerned about students implementing what they learn in their homes, solely because energy-saving is a crucial need of our time that must be put into practice at all times and places.

The issue of energy conservation should not be treated as an independent entity. In fact, it has a close association with most of our daily habits. There is a close relationship between our eating patterns and the use of air conditioners. Choosing foods that cool the body indirectly reduces the need for fans and air conditioners. For example, foods such as cucumber and fenugreek are natural body coolants. Drinking enough water also greatly helps in this direction.

In our school, Fridays are recognised as fruit-eating days. On that day, a variety of fruits are sold in our canteen. One might interpret this as too small a thing, but it could lead to energy reduction in the long term. We imparted to the students about how just eating right could help reduce electricity use.

Save the environment: Green living is a theme adopted by the school, whose students are now focussed on saving energy in their daily lives.

We should teach students to see the root cause of the problem and plan activities accordingly. Collective impacts in terms of energy savings are possible if we adopt a holistic approach to addressing them.

“There’s better care for the earth with a holistic approach” – SENIOR ASSISTANT for environmental education and cocurricular activities Amuthavalli Muniandy

We incorporate energy-saving activities into our environmental activities, which are conducted every Tuesday. We pick a particular scenario on energy savings and discuss it with students. For example, it is habitual for some of us to open the fridge door frequently without reason. We discussed with students how such habits increase the electricity bill.

In our school, the bell will not ring after the end of every subject. The move, while cutting unnecessary electric use, also avoids noise pollution. The “one-student, one-plant” concept introduced by CAP has helped students nurture and love plants. They water the plants and use compost produced by the school for the healthy growth of the plants.

We care for the earth: Let’s conserve energy – students showing their support for the school’s energy-saving project.

All classes grow Indian borage, which aids in increasing oxygen and can be consumed to cure colds and coughs. With such a holistic approach, we believe students will adopt energy-saving as part of their lives and develop more care for the earth.

“An hour without electricity” – TEACHER Vikneswary Bala Krishnan

Last year, CAP officers Saraswathi Devi and Theeban contacted our school to introduce an energy-saving project to students in our school. At that time, we were already committed to activities under the school’s green garden project. CAP furnished us with more information on energy saving and its connection with climate change, thereby renewing our zest to conduct the existing green activities by incorporating energy-saving into them.

“Save Energy” guides in 3 different languages given to schoolteachers to help disseminate useful information on the measures schools can take to reduce energy use.

In most instances, teachers impart the knowledge, and the students are the receivers. However, in the energy-saving project, the energy monitors played the role of instructing and guiding the rest of the students to switch off the lights and fans and urging them to be more responsible with their energy use.

This year, on Earth Day, which took place in April, all students pledged to turn off lights and other unnecessary electronics from 8pm to 9pm at their homes. With such involvement, we are convinced that they will play a crucial role in saving energy more effectively in the future.