Happy Halloween!

Have a fun, safe and efficient Halloween!

Today's Energy Insight

Minnesota is among the most energy efficient states in the nation. According to a new Wallet Hub study, Minnesota ranks third out of the lower 48 states. The Washington D.C.-based financial analysis website, Wallet Hub, compared data from all but two of the states. Alaska and Hawaii were excluded from the study based on data limitations.

The top 10 most energy efficient states are:

1.     New York

2.     Vermont

3.     Minnesota

4.     Wisconsin

5.     Utah

6.     Rhode Island

7.     Colorado

8.     California

9.     Connecticut

10.  Nevada

The least energy-efficient states according to the Wallet Hub study are South Carolina, Louisiana and Texas.

Today's Energy Insight

Make it a green Halloween!

Please remember to re-use and/or recycle your costumes and decorations. And don't forget to compost those Jack'o lanterns. Thank you for doing your part this year to make it a GREEN Halloween!

Today's Energy Insight

Computer ON / Monitor ON

When you shut down your computer at the end of the day you will see the monitor light go from green to amber. Please be sure to press the power button on the monitor to completely power down the screen so it does not continue to draw energy over night.

Computer OFF / Monitor ON

No glowing light = no energy consumed.

Computer OFF / Monitor OFF

Human Powered Generator

Available again this year for classroom demos is the Human Powered Generator activity. Students of all ages can give it a try to see if they can make a light bulb light up with just human generated power. I have various light bulbs and small appliances for students to try and see which ones use less energy and which ones use more energy making it harder to generate power.
Contact me via email at sheri_brunner@rdale.org or at extension 8104 to schedule the Human Powered Generator activity for your classroom.

Today's Energy Insight

Energy Myth Busting continued...

MYTH: Use a screen saver when you are away from your monitor.

FACT: You should shut off your computer monitor anytime you are away from your work station. Screen savers were never meant as energy savers – they were meant to protect your screen from having the image displayed “burned” onto it. Today’s computers no longer experience this problem, and so screen savers have all but become useless.

Computer monitors on desktop units are separate from the computer processes unit (CPU). This means you can turn the monitor on and off independently from the “thinking” part of your machine. Monitors are essentially light switches – turning on the brightness of the screen so you can see what you are working on. This means they can be turned on and off like light switches! Computer monitors consumer over ½ of the total energy used by a desktop – anytime you are away from your screen, shut the monitor off to save energy.