Sustainability Action Process: Energy Use and Efficiency. Learning Journal

Sustainability action process

Energyuse and efficiency

Student learning journal

This learning journal will help guide you an investigation investigate into energy use and efficiency in your school and community, identify solutions and then communicate and implement these solutions.

The five-step Sustainability action process will help you producing a creative and practical proposal to change people’s energy related behaviours.

Using the energy use and efficiency learning journal (Microsoft Word)

This energy learning journal is your record of the work you or your group does. Each of the five Sustainability action process headings has sections with some questions to answer and has space to document your thinking and work.

As a Microsoft Word document you can add any text, images and pictures to it, tables and graphs for your data, add any links to Internet resources or information or even add links to video or audio interview you have recorded.

You may want to reword a question or add other questions or headings. Record your answers to these questions in the space provided, and add new pages for photos, illustrations and diagrams.

Student names ......

......

Team name ...... Class ......

Teacher (contact person) ......

School ......

Making the case for change

Each day we use energy in our homes, schools, offices and in the community. Increasingly we understand the impact our use of energy has on resources and climate our use of energy has.

Exploring energy

What do we know and need to know about energy and sustainability?
How and where will we find out what we need to know?
What does it mean to use energy in a sustainable way?

Making the case for change

Assessing your current situation

Before deciding on any change to be made at school an audit of the school’s energy use is a great place to start. Other investigations may be needed to find out about such things as patterns of energy use, and people and appliances that use energy in the school. Electricity is the most common form of energy used in schools but there are others.

How can I measure and describe energy used by the school?
Where in our school is energy used?
Where does our energy supply come from?
How do we share the results of our energy investigation with the school? (our stakeholders).

Making the case for change

Investigating concepts of sustainable energy use and efficiency

We use energy in all aspects of our lives. Because of this there are many areas we can look at where energy can be saved or be used more efficiently. To make a case for change at school, it is important to investigate the environmental and financial costs of energyas well as other types of energy that can be used.

What else do we need to know about energy?
What investigations do we need to undertake?
What did we find out?

Making the case for change

Stating the case for what needs to change and why

On this page state some of your reasons for wanting to changethe way energy is used at school. At this stage you should investigate the issues and avoid thinking about solutions, e.g. actions or specific changes. Focus on areas or activities that use energy that could be changed.

How do we use energy in our school?
How much energy is used for each purpose in our school?
Who are the people (stakeholders) at our school who use energy and what are their opinions, needs and concerns?
What are our needs, wants and opportunities for change in relation to the school’s energy use?

Defining the scope for action

Schools and the community can change systems and equipment to save energy. There are a variety of actions and behaviours that teachers and students can adopt to reduce energy use.

Generating ideas andexploring options for action

How have others in schools and the community made improvements in the area of energy use?
What are the different types of action we can take to bring about the change we want?
How will we know if the changes we make have been successful in using energy more sustainably?

Defining the scope for action

Resources and constraints

Before further developing ideas about reducing energy use it is important to know what resources are available for this project. It is also important to identify ‘constraints’ that might limit the ability to implement an idea or may reduce its potential success.

Who might be available to help us?
What timeis available for the project?
What time finances are available for the project?
What might limit our actions?

Defining the scope for action

Selecting ideas for action

Considering our resources and constraints, what type of actions best meet the criteria for energy reduction or energy efficiency in our school?

What are the different ways we could make improvements?
How have others made improvements in this area?
How cCan we come up with a great idea?
What will we do?

Developing the proposal for action

A proposal for reduced energy use and improved energy efficiency requires: a clear statement of action, criteria for success and agreement by stakeholders.

Developing the statement (brief) for action.

In this section you will be refining the direction you have chosen through a project brief. You will need to develop some specific actions, responsibilities and expectations for your project.

A ‘brief’ is a document that describes a plan, process or approach and should include a way to measure or rate how well it succeeded. As an introduction your brief should include both broad aims as well as some detailed reasoning.

You may need to provide some evidence for your answers.

Have we clearly stated the type of energy saving or efficiency action we have planned?
How will we judge the success of the our improvements or change?
What are the individual steps required?.
What budget or resources are required for each individual step or action?
Who will be responsible for these actions?
What could we do if things don’t go to plan?

Developing the proposal for action

Preparing to communicate the proposal

You have generated an idea for an action that will reduce your school’s energy use. To gain support for your idea it is important to communicate this to stakeholders.

What will the energy reduction or efficiency changes cost?
Who will take the actions?
Who do we need to share our plan with?
How will we use feedback to improve our proposal?

Developing the proposal for action

Gaining agreement for the proposal

Before you finalise your proposal it will be important to consult with the Principal and others and respond to any suggestions that are made.

Has our class and have others in the school agreed to our ideas?
Has our Principal agreed?
What modifications are needed to gain the endorsement of the Principal?

Developing the proposal for action

Proposal description

This is the final plan and should include all of the necessary information to proceed and make it happen.

Does our document include:

A plan for action?
The budget, personnel and timing requirements?
The steps we will follow to implement our plan?
The criteria and how we will record information to judge how successful we have been?
What we will do if the implementation does not go to plan or schedule?

Implementing the Proposal

To put an energy saving or efficiency proposal into action you need to follow the sequential steps, monitor your progress and collect data to help measure your success.

Putting the proposal into action

As we implement our proposal we need to follow our project plan.We may also identify issues with the project and discuss solutions. Record them below.

Are we following the steps set out in the proposal?
Are we keeping the purpose for the action clearly in mind?
How will we know we are implementing the plan as it was agreed or intended?

Implementing the proposal

Monitoring and recording the implementation

The progress of the project needs to be monitored and documented. The collection and organisation of information at this stage assists with evaluating our project success. Add some journal entries and photos.

How will we know we are implementing the plan as it was agreed or intended?
Are we collecting the information for the evaluation?
How can we use this information at this stage to communicate our project and engage others?

Reflecting and Evaluating

You need to be able to judge and measure the success of your proposal in addressing the original issue and achieving your goal.

Evaluating the sustainability action

This step will describe the success of our initial idea, our planning and actions using our special criteria.

Did we achieve our goal of reducing energy use?
Have we measured or described this?
What were the strengths and weaknesses of our plan?
What could we have done differently to get a better result?
How can we communicate our success and engage others to try our idea?

Reflecting and Evaluating

Reflecting on the learning

It is important to reflect on and consider our individual learning and development as a group.

How has my/our feelings and behaviour changed as a result of my/our learning?
How well did I/we participateinto any group learning activities?
Thinking back on what you have achieved, what was the most enjoyable part of the project?
How can I apply what I’ve learnt to another sustainability issue?