Students Play a Key Role in School Energy Management

Lai Cheng August 29, 2024 0 Comments
Energetic & passionate – these students are eager to help their school conserve energy. One of the ways is to grow plants for a cooler environment.

In SJK (C) Union in Jalan Burmah, Penang students are the real heroes in energy conservation. Not only do they motivate one another towards energy-saving, they also play a direct and critical role that contributes to the school’s sustainability and cost-saving goals. Students here diligently track and scrutinise the school’s electricity bills to get to the root of any jump in electricity usage and costs. This ensures the school’s energy-saving objectives are met.

“Our students analyse and evaluate the school’s electricity bills” – TEACHER Lee Ting Hui

Pointing to the increase in electricity bills as a reason to reduce electricity consumption creates less response among students solely because the bill payers are their parents. Hence, it has no direct impact on the students.

CAP officer Theeban Gunasekaran explaining the essentials of plant-growing to the students.

In the early stages of teaching the students to be smart energy users, I frequently had students ask me questions like “Why should I save electricity?” “What is its relevance to me?” “I am not paying the bill!”, etc. Hence, in addition to pointing to the increase in electricity bills, we also emphasised the damages inflicted on the earth due to energy use. Students are familiar with the terms greenhouse gas emissions, carbon footprints, and renewable energy because we keep discussing and emphasising them in our assemblies.

Switching off the lights when not in use is a habit change that can be easily inculcated in students. We take all measures to instil this in every student, including placing notices as reminders atop electrical switches and delivering short lectures during assembly.

CAP officer Saraswathi Odian giving a talk on sustainable energy use to the students.

The eco-monitors in our school continuously alert students to switch off the lights, air conditioners and fans when not in use. With the eco-monitors’ help, we monitor, analyse and evaluate our electricity bills. All the data is displayed on the announcement board and discussed during the assembly. Displaying the graph for the monthly electricity bill enables students to analyse the reasons for increases in the bill and find ways to reduce the amount in the following months. During school lessons, teachers put in extra effort to relate electricity consumption to the increase in temperature and global warming.

In our school, it is all a collective effort to adopt more energy-efficient practices. We, the teachers at SJK (C) Union, are determined to continue this for the benefit of our mother earth.

Appointment of class energy monitors – “detectives’ who will be on the lookout for lights, whiteboards and appliances that have been left on unnecessarily, and who will remind their friends and teachers to switch them off.

“Let’s practise responsible energy use” – Standard 6 STUDENT Bernard Tay Lee Juan

Severe climate change is endangering our planet. Therefore, our school has taken proactive measures to save electricity. Our school’s principal and teachers have continuously emphasised the need to save electricity.

Towards a common gold: CAP’s joint energy-saving project with the school is a collective effort in building a sustainable future.

After examining the data on our electricity bill, we started taking measures to save electricity in our school.  Talks, workshops and discussions are held to keep us updated on issues related to energy-saving, such as carbon footprints, electrical audits and data analysis. I hope our school can install solar panels soon to achieve energy efficiency.

“Saving electricity must be a lifestyle for everyone” – Standard 6 STUDENT Quah Jensen

In our school, there are 2 eco-monitors for each class. As an eco-monitor, I remind my friends to turn off the lights, switch off the smart boards and turn off the electrical appliances when not in use. I also urge them to save electricity because saving electricity must be a part of everyone’s lives.