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AAEE is proud to be an Official Partner of the 2nd USA Science & Engineering Festival to be held in the greater Washington DC area in April 2012.
Student Competition
How Much Energy Can You Conserve?
Background
The world focus these days is on energy:
- How do we generate energy?
- Do we have enough resources to continue to generate energy in the future?
- How much energy do we use?
- How do we transmit energy from where it's generated to the point of use?
- How sustainable are the ways we currently generate energy?
- How can we conserve energy?
- Do we realize just how much energy we consume?
- How much do we depend on foreign countries to provide the resources to create energy?
- How much energy does the U.S. use compared to other countries?
- How much pollution or adverse effects are created when we produce energy by burning coal or diesel fuel?
- How much risk are we facing based on how we generate energy?
It is hard not to pick up any newspaper/news magazine or watch any news program without a mention or segment about some facet of energy.
The world economy may be slowing, but the world demand for energy keeps on rising as we keep increasing the number of: vehicles on our roads; computers in our homes, schools, and businesses; cell phones and personal electronic Internet devices; Internet users; electronic surveillance; products we consumers demand; facilities needed to treat and deliver clean water, and collect and treat wastewater. Combine all that with the rising energy needs to keep existing and new buildings (homes, stores, offices, industries, etc.) safe and inhabitable with lighting, elevators, heating, ventilation, air conditioning and other purposes.
Some of us, particularly those of us in developed countries, tend to take access to energy for granted. That easy access is not only present during our normal daily lives, but also when we go away on vacation. We have become so reliant on energy to make our daily existence livable that we have forgotten what it is like to do without. It takes unwanted reminders associated with the forces of nature (earthquakes, cyclones, tornadoes, hurricanes, snow storms, heavy rains) when all electric power is cut off to a region or small/local area that we realize that we cannot live without energy. But, in order to continue to meet our rising appetite for energy, it appears that we must:
- Understand how much energy we currently use
- Learn how we can conserve energy
- Study new ways to produce sustainable energy
- Examine better ways to deliver energy
- Realize that we are all in this together and that grassroots individual efforts are what is needed to get us all moving in the right energy direction!
Contest Challenge
The applicant is asked to define the energy footprint of either his/her family home/residence, or her/his school. The applicant should select a specific time of year and location, and must conduct the research necessary to identify where energy is used (from the small energy demands of the home wall thermostat to the larger demands of a school boiler) and estimate the amount of energy used by each device. Compare this estimate with the amount of energy that is associated with the home's/school's routine utility bill. Don't forget to consider the time of year that you conduct your analysis so that the utility bill matches the devices you identify. How close do you come to matching the utility bill? Explain the differences in your estimate and the utility bill summary. It is not as easy as you first thought! Trying to estimate energy usage associated with devices that demand varying levels of energy depends on how they are operated and/or changes in external forces (temperature), is extremely difficult.
Organize all the energy using devices identified according to the amount of energy you have determined they use. List them in a table from the highest (top of the list) to the lowest (bottom of the list). Include a column on this table that indicates which of these devices you believe you can work with to conserve energy. Use a yes, no, or maybe to populate this column. This column should be developed at the time the devices are first identified and before any research is conducted to determine what steps might be recommended to conserve energy.
The second part of this Contest Challenge is to determine how to reduce the energy footprint you just identified above. You are not obligated to keep the devices you currently use, nor the electronic systems that operate those devices in your home/school. In fact, you are encouraged to seek more energy efficient devices/operating systems.
Be creative!
Consider alternative energy sources that you could safely install and operate separate from your local utility. Some of these alternative energy sources will be contingent on where you live. Describe what those sources are, the feasibility of installing and operating them, and estimate the amount of energy that they would create to off-set the local utility. Don't forget to consider how much these systems would cost to purchase, install and operate. Do they cost more than the cost for energy provided by the local utility? Is it more sustainable? Make a case for why you would or would not recommend moving forward with implementing the alternative energy sources you have identified.
What other steps would you recommend in order to reduce your energy footprint? Think about the following incomplete list of areas to consider: lighting, heating, ventilation, insulation, windows, etc. Review your table of energy using devices and assess where you could reduce the amount of energy used with each device. Can you come up with recommendations that reduce your energy footprint by 10%, 20%, 50% or more? Don't forget to take credit for a consistent, reliable alternative energy source.
Go back to the table generated in part one and redo the table by adding the estimated reduction in energy you have determined by implementing your recommended actions. Indicate replacement devices or new steps that you are recommending that will reduce your energy footprint.
How much energy have you saved/conserved?
Download the entry package for a list of the required submittals, along with the contest rules and a description of the write-up required.
Click here or the image above to download your entry package.
