Minnesota Schools Cutting Carbon

The Rosemount High School green team has officially sent out the application form for the big $20,000 grant provided by MN Schools Cutting Carbon! Our goal is that through this grant we will be able to reduce our energy usage, 11% and our paper consumption by 10%. RHS’s carbon footprint has four main components – electricity (lighting, cooling, plug loads such as computers, printers, copiers, vending machines, etc.), natural gas and fuel oil (heating), transportation (buses and cars), and refrigerants. According to the carbon footprint results, students can make the most impact on their carbon footprint by reducing refrigerants, electricity, and natural gas use. Our plan for this is:

1. Educate the school of our current carbon footprint and our goal for reducing it.

2. Create a learning environment utilizing the latest online resources designed to motivate, educate, inform and engage all students in the learning process. (GreenR Gale resource subscription)

3. Energy unit: Students in 9th grade Earth Science will research, gather data, evaluate the data and formulate an action plan to reduce the carbon footprint of RHS. The tools used to collect data on energy use, lighting and remote temperature readings will also be available for students to check out to determine ways to save energy in their home. Students in math classes will also use the tools to collect data and learn how they can save energy.

4. Decrease the number of student cars driven to and from school by 10% by encouraging students to ride the bus, carpool, bike or walk to school.

5. Reduce the amount of paper printed by 10% or 456,340 sheets of paper through teacher training and monitoring the amount of paper printed by students with “Papercut” software.

6. Save amount of energy used by installing light sensors in the classrooms and equipping each classroom with a power cord to enable an easier way to turn off all energy using appliances.