Energy+and+Atmosphere

__** Energy and Atmosphere: ** __ = These things will reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into atmosphere. Saving energy saves trees! = ==== Energy efficient appliances are a big part of what we can do to reduce the energy we consume because we will be using them all day, every day. The energy efficient appliances we especially should focus on are laptops, the air conditioning system, and lighting. There is also alternative energy we can harvest and monitoring we can do to make sure that we are as efficient as possible. ====

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This is the GE LED Edgelighting system. It lights only the spaces needed so energy is not lighting areas that don't need it. It comes in a variety of lengths and wall mounts, so they can meet our every need. LED stands for Light Emitting Diode and last a lot longer than convectional incandescent light bulbs.======

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Selecting laptops for schools is tricky. A company (in our case Hewitt-Packard [HP]) offers specific laptops and other hardware to us at a lower price because they produce more and cut the cost per item. Luckily the laptops that we currently have are Energy Star Labeled! This means that they must use energy efficient power supplies, operate efficiently in the ON, SLEEP, and IDLE modes and include and be able to enable power management features and must tell the user about these features. Power management features include the "Balanced" charging plan and the time it takes to go into IDLE and SLEEP modes. Students will be discouraged to have screensavers because they waste energy and prevent them from going into sleep mode.======

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Heating and cooling account for about half of the average homeowner's energy costs. That also applies to our school. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recognizes air conditioning units that have high energy efficiency with the Energy Star label.======

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On site green power means to capture useful energy from natural energy flows. The two major green power sources are solar panels and wind power. We believe that wind power is the best green power solution for our area's climate. Solar panels just wouldn't be as effective because of the amount of sunlight we receive and because they would be covered by the snow in the winter. The wind turbine may be slightly expensive, but they pay off in the end.======

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This involves recording the actual amount of energy over the life-time of the building comparing it to what amount we expect to use. It ensures that everything is working correctly and user habits are under control. It can also reduce energy costs, assist with commissioning, and over time, can improve energy conservation.======

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Commissioning means having a contractor verify that all of the building's systems are planned, designed, installed, tested, operated, and maintained to meet the goals of the project. Luckily we all ready have a contractor that normally does this for our school, so there is no additional cost. There are many benefits to commissioning which include improving energy efficiency by 5-10%, ensuring that the faculty knows how to operate everything correctly, and catching mistakes like missing or incorrectly installed equipment, air quality and heating issues, unexpected equipment failure, and lawsuits.======

U.S. Department of Energy. (n.d.). //Air Conditioning, Central//. N.p.: Energy Star. Retrieved November 3, 2011, from [] U.S. Department of Energy. (n.d.). //Computer Key Product Criteria //. N.p.: Energy Star. Retrieved November 3, 2011, from. [] U.S. Department of Energy. (n.d.). //Energy Star Laptop Product List //. N.p.: Energy Star. Retrieved November 3, 2011, from [] LEED User. (n.d.). //LEED NC v2.2 EAc3 Enhanced Commissioning //. Retrieved November 3, 2011, from [|http://www.leeduser.com/credit/NC-v2.2/EAc3#bev-tab] LEED User. (n.d.). //Glossary- Commissioning //. Retrieved November 3, 2011, from [] Lawsuit. (n.d.). In //Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law //. Retrieved November 15, 2011, from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/lawsuit

-Katie Hamel, Megan Clark, and Benjamin Swanson