Today's Energy Insight

Can solar power provide electricity when the sun isn’t shining?

Scroll down to check your answer...

Yes!

Many solar energy systems have battery storage, allowing users to draw energy at night. Large solar thermal power projects are coming online that use molten salt to store energy for use after dark.

Today's Energy Insight

The bottled water industry sold 8.8 billion gallons of water last year, generating nearly $11 billion in profits. Yet plastic water bottles create huge environmental problems. The energy required to produce and transport these bottles could fuel an estimated 1.5 million cars for a year, yet approximately 75 percent of water bottles are not recycled—they end up in landfills, litter roadsides, and pollute waterways and oceans. And while public tap water is subject to strict safety regulations, the bottled water industry is not required to report testing results for its products. According to a study, 10 of the most popular brands of bottled water contain a wide range of pollutants, including pharmaceuticals, fertilizer residue, and arsenic. Yikes! Just a couple of many reasons to use a refillable water bottle.

Just For Kids

Today's post is for the students in the Robbinsdale Area School District. Just a couple of energy thoughts specifically for kids...

Energy isn’t free. Your parents, guardians and other taxpayers in your community pay for the all the energy your school uses. So wasting energy is the same as wasting money – not a smart idea.

Energy is more than numbers on a utility bill, it is the foundation of everything we do. All of us use energy every day – for transportation, cooking, heating and cooling, manufacturing, lighting and entertainment. We rely on energy to make our lives comfortable, productive and enjoyable. To maintain our quality of life, we must use our energy resources wisely.

So kids, as we start a new school year, let's try to be energy smart both at school and at home. Have a groovy 2016 - 2017!

It's Back to School Time

Coming Soon: A Brand New School Year!

Just as January 1st is a time for making resolutions, the start of a new school year is also a great time to make some resolutions. It could be to be more organized or perhaps to be on-time for every class, meeting or appointment, OR how about this: Resolve to SAVE ENERGY!

Why save energy in a school district? Energy is one of our biggest expenditures and when we save energy, we save money. The funds saved through energy efficient behavior and practices is then available for other more pressing needs. As teachers, staff and administration, we need to be models of energy efficiency for our students, we need to show them what it means to LIVE GREEN everyday!

Today's Energy Insight

It seems we are hearing a lot about climate change these days, especially when we have such extreme weather patterns throughout the country. What is the biggest contributor to climate change?

1)  Cutting down of trees

2)  Failing to recycle plastic

3)  Producing energy

4)  Wasting of water

Energy production accounts for 2/3 of human generated greenhouse gases.

Re-Branding in GREEN!

Sustainability Awareness to Continue as SEE® Ends

After four hugely successful years of participating with Schools for Energy Efficiency®, the SEE program is ending throughout the district. In order to keep up the great momentum of energy and sustainability awareness generated through our partnership with SEE and Class 5 Energy Inc., a new Robbinsdale specific initiative is in the process of being developed and will be launched district wide this fall. Watch for new materials throughout the schools and the ESC including energy dashboards in each building tracking energy use in real time. Think GREEN! Go GREEN! Live GREEN!

Today's Energy Insight

Catch Some ZZZs!

Enabling your computer's sleep mode is a smart way to go green because a sleeping computer saves energy! And remember to turn off your monitor at the end of the day, make sure the power light for your screen is not illuminated indicating it is OFF. If it is glowing amber, it means the computer is off but the monitor is still drawing power and is on. Green indicates the computer and monitor are both still on so be sure the power light is neither amber or green. All of these little things do add up and make a difference!