Beginning with the question, how would walking to school rather than driving save energy?, I delved into my energy conservation project. I first determined the distance to my school from my house (approx. 1 mi.). With this information I walked to and from the school to determine the time it would take (approx 20 min. each way). Finally, I assessed what was at the time the price of gasoline ($3.19) . And then, for one week I walked to school rather than drove.
Although this one week experiment had very little affect, I only saved one gallon of gas, I at least had the feeling that I was making a choice. This choice, as well as the assignment prompt, provided the impetus to question whether or not a lifestyle change would have a greater impact. Playing the what if game with Microsoft Excel, I found that over time I would save energy in the form of gallons conserved.
Additionally, and all the more fascinating and powerful, the impact that convincing a handful of friends would have increased the energy savings, yet convincing a small community-only 100 people-would have dramatic effects over a one year period. Over a one year period, if I was able to convince 100 people, who live within a mile of their work, to drive, we would conserve 5200 gallons of gas and save over $16000! For further analysis of the figures check out the following link http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pkqqxJ195_WFr4B-W3qs7cA
Finally, I created a nifty PowerPoint presentation that visually brings attention to the above information as well. Check out the link http://www.slideshare.net/clearprose
Stay tuned for a reflection on actually presenting my PowerPoint to my classes.
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