Let's do science!
In the Power investigation you are going to find out how much electricity it takes to run your school.
Over two weeks you will look at your school's use of electricity, and then turn 'Electric Detective' to find out if there are ways you can reduce the amount required.
Introduction to the Power Investigation
We sent Ben Shires deep undercover to investigate how electricity is used in a school, and if there were any savings which could be made. Watch this short film to find out what happened!
Setting the scene for the Terrific Scientific Power investigation.
Ben Shires:
So, who works that hardest at your school? Well, it depends who you ask.
Teachers:
The teachers.
Pupils:
The kids.
Ben Shires:
Surely not you mate, lazy fishes. Or maybe it's this thing, the electricity meter. Look at it working away, measuring all that electricity, day in, day out. I wonder who's paying the bill?
Ben Shires:
Amazingly, UK schools use £543 million worth of electricity every year, but if all schools were a bit more careful with the power they use, scientists reckon they could reduce those costs by £44 million.
Ben Shires:
Ooph! You could buy a quarter of a Neymar with that, but more importantly you could be helping to reduce global warming and saving the planet.
Ben Shires:
Global warming is mainly caused by a built up of the gas, CO², it's released when you burn fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas. The CO² traps heat in the Earth's atmosphere and causes temperatures to rise. Most electricity in homes and schools comes from power stations burning fossil fuels like coal, so if schools not using that £44 million worth of electricity could prevent625,000 tonnes of CO² from being emitted each year. That's the same as taking 120,000 CO² belching cars off the road.
Ben Shires:
Today, I'm going deep undercover to investigate how one school uses electricity and how they could use a bit less. I'm spying for science.
Ben Shires:
I'm disguising myself as the one person who has access all areas. No, not Justin Bieber, the school caretaker. Meet Mr Watts, he loves school buildings, he loves science and he hates wasting electricity.
Ben Shires:
Oh deary me, there's a light bulb on during t'day in there. Excuse me! [CLEARS THROAT] I'm having to call a halt to this lesson because you've got a light bulb on in the middle of the day, Miss. DO you know if you leave a light bulb on for ten hours it costs 12p for ten hours. Have you got some cash, Miss? Have you got 12p to be precise? What's this? Who do you think you are?Who walks round with a tenner? Alright, time to get me change out.
Ben Shires:
12p might not sound much, but times that by all the classrooms and all the schools in the country and it adds up to thousands of pounds a year. We measure power in units called watts, it takes 60 watts to light a 60 watt bulb for an hour. For bigger things that need more power like power tools, cars and buildings, the watts mount up quickly, so scientists measure power in 1,000sof watts, known as a kilowatt.
Ben Shires:
But what uses the most watts in this school?
Ben Shires:
To find out, I had my terrific scientific minions sneak in and put power monitors on different plugs, including this one on a whiteboard.
Ben Shires:
Hang on a minute, this interactive whiteboard has been left on standby but that doesn't mean it's not still drawing power. In fact, look at this, 0.103 kilowatt hours.
Ben Shires:
Leaving a computer on overnight for a year creates enough CO² to fill a double decker bus, but switching off just the monitor overnight saves enough electricity to microwave six dinners.
Ben Shires:
And there's plenty more electricity guzzlers round this school, but never fear, Mr Watts is on the case.
Ben Shires:
Mr Watts doesn't have to look far for unnecessary electrical shenanigans and it's a teacher.
Ben Shires:
'Ey up! Oh dear, oh dear, this is an energy hungry monster this photocopier, I'm afraid from now on, this is out of bounds.
Ben Shires:
Just leaving a photocopier on overnight wastes enough electricity to make 1,500 copies.
Female teacher with long brown hair, glasses:
I need to do the photocopying.
Ben Shires:
I'll tell you what, I've got a better idea. Follow me. Okay, okay, everybody I need your attention, can anyone help with making copies of these please? Okay there's one for you, get scribbling. That's the spirit.
Ben Shires:
Mr Watts' minions are saving heaps of electricity, but they do seem to be having a bit of trouble capturing the star quality of Ben Shires.
Ben Shires:
So you've got the hair there, I'm not so sure about the ears. They're very good drawings these, do keep them up so I get my copies, alright? Thank you very much.
Ben Shires:
It's good to think about whether things really need to be printed, but Mr Watts has bigger power savings to make. This is the boiler, the heart of this school's heating system, it boils up water which is then carried off all round the school to heat up the radiators.
Ben Shires:
The problem is, a lot of these systems are old and don't work properly in various schools and also, it could be warm outside and the radiators are still on. Disaster.
Ben Shires:
Turning down the thermostat just one degree centigrade can reduce the school's fuel use by 10%.
Ben Shires:
One degree, there you go, that's all it takes to save money and use less energy. Actually, I best go check that everyone's alright upstairs, they could be freezing!
Ben Shires:
Attention! Attention! I need to inform you we have had to reduce the heating on the thermostat by one whole degree centigrade. Now I know you're probably feeling it so I've brought provisions. You can wear that, I brought this for you especially, there you go, Miss, there you go, lovely.
Pupils:
[LAUGHS].
Ben Shires:
This boy's catching a chill! Three hats, tell me when you are satisfied young man. Are you laughing or are you shivering? I don't understand your lack of panic.
Ben Shires:
Okay, so not many people will feel cold if the boiler is set one degree lower.
Ben Shires:
Goodbye now, ta-ra.
Ben Shires:
But from small changes, big savings can be made, even when you're putting your feet up in the staff room.
Ben Shires:
Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! What's going on here? DO you know, every time you boil a kettle with more water than you need, it's wasting energy, look at that! It's kilowatts through the roof. I'm just gonna have to put this out of bounds over zealous fillage of water.
Ben Shires:
If everyone boiled only the water they needed every time they used the kettle, we could save enough electricity in a year to power the UK's street lights for nearly seven months.
Ben Shires:
The kettle maybe decommissioned, but I've got these for you, very cold, very energy efficient cups of tea, made with just cold water.
Ben Shires:
Having worked his scientific power auditing magic inside the school, Mr Watts heads outside.
Ben Shires:
This thermal camera allows me to see if any heat is escaping from the school building. Because wasted heat means wasted energy. Oh I'll tell you what, I don't like the look of that roof, it's not insulated, it's all orange on my display. Look at all that heat escaping into the atmosphere, what a waste.
Ben Shires:
A typical window left open overnight in winter will waste enough fuel to drive a small car over 35 miles and even small gaps under doors can make the central heating system work harder. So look for ways to plug small gaps around your school.
Ben Shires:
Alright, you just hang tight until home time, then I'll come get you, alright? Ta-ra!
Ben Shires:
Power use has gone down but not enough for Mr Watts' liking, so he has a word with the headteacher and an emergency energy awareness assembly is called.
Ben Shires:
You're using too much energy, I don't mean you, I mean the school, the power. It means that as a school you've got a great big carbon footprint, every time you breathe you're putting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, that is a big part of your carbon footprint. So I just think if we reduce our breathing by 50%…
Pupils:
[LAUGHS].
Ben Shires:
… we could stop putting so much CO² into the atmosphere, okay? We're gonna cut our breathing by half, we're gonna take one breathe instead of every time we take two. Alright here we go, one, two, three.
Pupils:
[INHALES] [EXHALES]. [LAUGHS].
Ben Shires:
Stop that! Hey! Is it just me or is it getting hot in here?
Pupils:
[LAUGHS]. [CHEERS].
Ben Shires:
Well and truly rumbled.
Pupils:
[UNSURE OF WORD].
Ben Shires:
I'd seen enough to get a better idea of how power is used in this school.
Ben Shires:
But it is just one school and there are thousands of them up and down the country, all different. That's why Terrific Scientific needs your help to investigate, so what are you waiting for? You don't want a visit from Mr Watts.
Ben Shires:
Ah ha, Mr Shires!
Ben Shires:
Oh no, he's back.
Ben Shires:
Hold on, Mr Shires I'm your biggest fan, I just wanted an autograph… ah! Hang on a minute, he's left his camera on, celebrity or not that's a waste of electricity, that's what that is.
What will we be doing?
You'll be turning 'Electric Detective' to find out where your school could become more efficient.
Each day for two weeks you'll record electricity meter readings, air temperature and weather.
In the second week you'll try out your power saving ideas.
At the end of week two you'll discover if you've managed to make a change!
How to do the Power investigation
To explain how to do each step of this investigation in more detail, Terrific Scientific have created a handy short film for you.
Switch Twitch!
Don't forget, if you need some inspiration about how your school can become more efficient, just do the Switch Twitch!
Switch Twitch
