Energy Bear Den

THE BEAR WOULD LIKE TO CONGRATULATE THE WINNERS OF THE GREEN CHALLENGE CONTEST!

The greenest school winner is HUBAND ELEMENTARY!!

Huband earned 2252 points and had 67 families enter the contest.

Their green actions included biking to school, switching off lights, and recycling.

Some families turn down the heat at night and unplug chargers and electronics when not in use!

The solar panel system (courtesy of Sunwest RV) will be installed soon! 

The grand prize was awarded to the Rockx family.

They won a new Volkswagen Clean Diesel car for a year courtesy of Sunwest Volkswagen!!!

They attend Vanier and Arden schools.

The Rockx family were selected from a group of 165 entrants.

They re-cycle, use an E-bike to commute to work, walk to the grocery store, and use CFL and LED light bulbs.

They also encourage their neighbors, freinds and co-workers to join them in these actions.

Thanks to the Rockx as well as the Taylor and Crevier families for being green leaders in our district! 

Individual student prizes will be delivered to the schools soon as well.

Thank-you for all your green actions.

Please keep up the good work at home and at school!

I am sure you are all looking forward to the Christmas break and spending time with your families and friends.

Please consider a few energy saving ideas to make the end of 2009 a bright one.

• Replace your old holiday light strings with LED ones. These use 95% less energy and last 7 to 10 times longer
• Before you leave your desk turn off your computer and monitor
• In your classroom or office, un-plug all unnecessary chargers, printers and appliances
• Make sure your windows are closed and space heaters are off

GREEN CHALLENGE CONTEST

This contest is now closed for entries.

The points will be added up over the holiday break and the winners will be announced at a special event in January!

Stay tuned for more information.

Have a safe and happy Holiday from the “bear”

OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!

Please note that the Green Challenge has been extended until Friday December 11, 2009!!

So don’t wait. Pick-up an action form today and enter to win great prizes and make a difference!

First place in each class wins a t-shirt and second prize is a cool waterbottle!

Starting on October 19th the ”BEAR” is proud to announce a new contest for all students in the Comox Valley.

The “GREEN CHALLENGE” will ask the students to create and accomplish green actions at home and at school.

The winning family will be awarded use of a new Volkswagen Clean Golf for a year!!!!!!

The school with the most points will win a solar power system for their computer lab!!

Click the image below for more details.

Ways to live a greener, more sustainable and environmentally
conscious lifestyle.

Green Challenge Action Form

The bear says hello and welcome back to school!

While our most of our staff have been resting and rejuvenating this summer our maintenance crews have been busy.

We have upgraded the lighting at Airport school. This project will save energy and provide  brighter classrooms for our students.

We have also gone hi-tech with occupancy sensors. These little smart switches will control the lights automatically for even more savings!

Now that a new season is before us here are some green suggestions to consider for back to school:

1. Re-use your backpack

2. When buying paper and notebooks look for re-cycled paper content

3. Always pack lunches in containers that can be washed and re-used. Remember that plastic bags can last 100 years in the landfill!

   That applies to plastic water bottles too! How about using refill-able ones instead?

4. Do you use a solar powered calculator instead of one that uses batteries?

5. Many stores are using cloth shopping bags. Does your family use them?

That’s just a few suggestions to consider.

Stay tuned for more conservation news from the den!!!

IT’S JUNE AND THE STUDENTS AND STAFF ARE GEARING UP FOR THE SUMMER BREAK!

The bear has recently asked for help in labeling all of our school light switches with “Please turn out the lights” stickers.

Word on the street is that this activity has been progressing nicely. Thanks guys!!!

Your school district maintenance staff will be busy this summer with several energy projects. We are replacing all of the old lighting at Airport Elementary.

We will install new lamps and ballasts to increase efficiency and also provide occupancy detectors. These devices automatically switch the lights off and on to correspond to the presence of a person in the room.

In addition to these sensors, daylight controls will also turn out the lights automatically if enough natural light is available. Cool stuff huh?

We will also be insulating some of our older facilities to keep the heat in and will be replacing some older single pane windows.

On the horizon is controlling and pre-heating or hot water with solar power!

Don’t forget that you can also do some of these things at home as well. There are incentives though BC Hydro and the federal government for energy renovations.

During the bear’s recent tours of our schools I have noticed that the temperature in many of our computer labs is high. This makes working in these rooms much harder.

By turning off your monitor whenever you are finished working, this situation can be improved.

This saves power and reduces the amount of air conditioning we need to power.

So have a good summer break and please try to be kind to our planet by conserving our precious resources!

What green initiatives will you implement this summer?

Summertime weather has appeared lately.

This means the days are longer and brighter.

This is a good time to take advantage of daylight by switching off your lights!

How about drying your clothes in the warm air instead of using the dryer?

Maybe spending more time outside? Reading, studying or gardening?

Recently the bear had an interesting letter sent in. It goes something like this:

Dear Energy Bear,

I always thought I used more power by switching my fluorescent lights off and on during the day.  So I leave them on all of the time.

Dear concerned energy miser,

This is an old story that goes back to the early days when electricity was abundant and relatively easy to generate.

It actually refers more to the fact that switching the fluoresant lights on and off a lot would shorten the life of the tubes and ballasts.

With todays electronic fluorescent fixtures this is no longer a concern.

So please turn off these lights when you don’t need them.

Remember that off-time equals 100% savings. 

This summer our school district staff will be installing energy efficient lights in several of our schools. These lights will use up to 33% less electricity than before while providing the same amount of light.

Just one more way we are working hard to reduce and re-think our carbon footprint.

Please join us!

THE WINNERS OF OUR CONTEST HAVE BEEN DECLARED

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE FOLLOWING STUDENTS!

GRADES 4-7  BOOKMARK

1st Victoria Stolting from Valley View Elementary

2nd Aiden Weckesser from Valley View Elementary

3rd Liam Woodrow from Huband Elementary

Grades 8-10 Esssay

1st Deanna Gilmore from Highland Secondary (I-Pod prize)

Grade 11-12 Essay

1st Quinn Park from Highland  Secondary (Netbook computer prize)

2nd Alaina Wiesner from Highland Secondary

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO RODE THEIR BIKES LAST WEEK.  LET’S KEEP IT UP!

As a result of reading the many contest entries I noted that turning off the lights was a simple thing most students were concerned about.

We should all remember to take an extra second to flip the switch when exiting our rooms!!!

Thanks from THE BEAR.

It’s May and things are heating up at SD71

We have started our latest energy project – a SOLAR WALL at Mark Isfeld!

This system will allow us to capture the energy from the sun and use it to heat the building!

You may have noticed some new anti-idling signs at our schools.  They are a reminder to shut off your engine when waiting in your car.

This reduces emissions, helps to clear the air and saves gasoline too!!!!!

Speaking of cars, next week is bike to work/school week.  Think about dusting off your bike and hopping aboard.

You will feel great and maybe even become a regular two- wheel commuter!

More information is available at www.biketowork.ca/ or click on the link

Don’t forget your helmet.

Our energy conservation contest has closed.  Thanks for all the great entries.  We will be announcing the winners shortly.

What did you do for earth-day this year?

Many schools in our district had energy awareness activities going on.

Some students also helped to clean up litter and did recycling projects.

Great job, the bear is impressed!  Let’s keep it up.

Look for information soon on how much energy your school uses each month and how much money we can save by reducing our energy use by only a few percent.

We will also produce fewer bad greenhouse gas emissions as well!!

Please note that the “ENERGY CONTEST ENDS THIS THURSDAY”.

Don’t miss your chance to win great prizes like a bike, I-pod and a netbook computer!