Written by Shelli-Kae Foster, YES! Program Director
Over 30 students from New London-Spicer and Minnewaska Area Schools participated in the Lights! Water! Action! Workshop to learn about ways to reduce their energy and water footprint at home. Each participant was given a Home Energy Kit and a Survey to complete with parent/guardian approval and then return to their teacher as proof of installation.
Each Kit contained 9 LED light bulbs, a faucet aerator, water flow test bag and leak detector tablets. The Survey was created by Jacob Selseth of Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTs) to walk students through the energy use in their home and identify ways to reduce their homes energy load and water usage. The survey is similar to a home energy audit in that it covers Water Heating, Showers, Baths, Clothes Washing and Drying, HVAC (Heating, Ventilating & Air Conditioning), Refrigerator/Freezers, Lighting, Home Envelope and Utility Bills. During the Workshop, Jacob went into detail on how to install each of the devices in the kit, and why they are important such as stating, “time can be your biggest multiplier in saving energy. There are 8,760 hrs in a year, find the most savings with items being used the most amount time.”
Students heard from energy experts Dan Tepfer of Kandiyohi Power Cooperative (KPC) and Ryan Rooney of Runestone Electric Association (REA) about what they do to support energy conservation in their own community and why this project is important. They also shared their unique career paths that lead them to be leaders in the field of energy.
A big THANK YOU to our funders for this project including Runestone Electric Association (REA), Kandiyohi Power Cooperative (KPC), Great River Energy (GRE) and Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTs).
