Any tips to make my school "greener?"?

Question

I have started a "Green" committee at my school to raise environmental awareness and to get people to take action. We already have a few projects going. If anyone else has done something like this I would especially like to see what was done with the administration and janatorial staff. Any types of agendas or green buying contracts would be great too. All tips and links would be help, I'm in Illinois so if it's anything regional, please keep that in mind. Thank you!

Answer 1

Well, Sherwin Williams has some wonderful shades.....

Used compact fluorescent bulbs.

Use recycled paper where ever possible

Sort out the trash for replacing

Avoid waste

Use low water toilets

Turn down heating a tad.

Make certain people turn out lights when not needed.

Etc.

Answer 2

Whatever happened to Reading, Writing and Arithmetic?

Answer 3

First of all - congratulations on starting a committee and taking action. I think that's absolutely fantastic.

A few ideas for your school:

-Replace all of the lightbulbs with compact flourescent bulbs

-Investigate what recycling programs are in place in your school presently and what is offered by your local garbage collectors. Make sure you are maxing out what you can recycle. If you aren't, roll out a recycling program into the school.

-Ensure that all computers in your school are correctly configured to sleep or hibernate after a period of inactivity. Just turning off the monitors is not enough.

-Look into how your school is heated and cooled. Are there ways to improve the efficiency? Could the thermostat be moved up or down by a few degrees?

-Get a cost estimate for motion detectors that can be tied to the light switches. This will save tons of electricity.

-Look into the transit options available to students and teachers. Is it considered socially uncouth to ride a bus or bike? Launch a campaign to make it cool. Host a "ride your bike to school day" and have a local bike repairshop on site to give free tune ups to people's bikes.

Those are some of the basics, but also some of the biggest impacting types of projects. Best of luck to you!

Answer 4

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