It’s almost midnight, you’ve gone through a day of stress in school, and you really just need a nap. You fall asleep for an hour, leaving your laptop on, the light on, and the HDTV playing your favorite show. We’ve all been there, but so what?

According to CNet, you’ve just wasted about 523 watts of energy.

“We only have one planet, and we are using it faster than it can take,” physics teacher Anthony Davidson said. “So far, we have no way to colonize another planet. If it runs out before we do, we’ll run out too.”

As an effort to reduce the energy waste, senior Min Kim has dedicated her senior project to finding different methods of saving energy at school. According to Kim, the key to conserving energy is finding and trying different things that might help conserve energy.

The goal of Kim’s project is to reduce the energy used at school and make any effort to help. “I still have to figure out ways to conserve energy and test it out, but I know there will be obstacles and I’ll have to try different things,” Kim said.

Conserving energy is a part of becoming a more environmentally friendly school, which is Davidson’s goal. To enact on this goal, he plans to enhance the greenhouse by building hydroponic systems and helping senior Claire Grunewald with her senior project of implementing solar panels in the school. According to Davidson, he is trying to coordinate with environmental science teacher Gray Switalski to find different compost projects besides recycling.

Kim hopes to make a lasting impact with her project that will help the school in the long run. “We cannot live without energy,” Kim said. “If we don’t use it wisely, we will cause many problems [to our planet].”

With a similar approach to Kim, Davidson hopes to impact and improve the school in the long run. He hopes some of the financial benefits can be used to revamp the school and buy green technology.

Davidson found his interest while working in the solar research section at the naval facilities. With the knowledge gained in his classes and his past work experiences, he was inspired. Davidson hopes students will also be inspired if they are taught more and exposed to green technology as he was.

“We can use the greenhouse and the technology to teach the students and have them improve the world around them as well,” Davidson said.
Kishan Patel is the Online Editor in Chief of The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.