Approaching the End

Overall this project has been a great learning experience. Our group learned so much information and problem solved a lot. We conducted interviews, created and analyzed data, and brought up a crucial problem that our school faces. In our research, we learned that our school community alone uses 3.1 million dollars a school year. Through the graph we found out  that as each year progresses, we have managed to consistently decrease our energy consumption but the price of electricity has also consistently increased. This is a lot of energy! In the near future, our school plans to install all types of machinery in efforts to decrease this large amount. Such things are photovoltaic panels, LEED lighting, and electric sub-meters. With this knowledge we made awareness poster that read “Be Bright Turn out the Light”, surveyed teachers, conducted various interviews, and made PA announcements as shared in our previous blog posts. In the end, we couldn’t find out the exact difference that we made in our community. Although it was difficult, as a group we felt the problem of energy consumption was a necessary problem to address and attempt to solve. Finally, working with group members through this project also helped each one of us to prepare for jobs and situations that we could possible encounter in the future. 

ALL PAU

Now that this project is complete, i look back and realize that there was a lot of work, time and effort put into this project. Personally i thought it would be a piece of cake but boy was i wrong. The hard part of this project to me was communicating with everyone in the group. We all have stuff to do like sports and stuff and we are all busy people. Our school is good at keeping us busy and giving us a lot to do. This project has really taught me time management and that there is not all the time in the world. Also that time run quicker then it seems.
The things that went well in the project is that i was able to work with people that i had never worked with before. Also i was able to learn some interesting facts about the school that i never knew. Things that did not go as planned was the blog posts and getting information. It was hard to stay on task with the blogs because we always got confused on who did what for which night. Information was also hard to get because our project required us to meet with other people who cant put everything aside to help us. so that was a big challenge.
The main thing that i leaned other then the waste in electricity is that time managment is very important. i think that this project is perfect just the way it is. And it is very related to physics.

Final Thoughts: Marisa

This project was a lot of stress. Maybe the biggest problem was communication, because each member has his/her own life, we are each busy trying to meet the needs of our own life. I do feel accomplished from this project because we were able to research something at school, and we also had the chance to make a difference. The symposium allowed each group to boast its learnings and demonstrate its accomplishments and hard work. This was a fulfilling project.

Implementing our PA announcements and posters was tedious at worst but relatively easy. Our ideas went out without a large hitch. I wish we had more data from the teachers from our online survey, as going door to door, we did not catch a large audience, but we were able to get a lot of information from Mr. Ramsey anyway. I also wish there was a way to measure our effect on the electricity bill for this month, but we can't help that.

I learned that group projects are difficult when a large portion of the project must be completed outside of class. In class is fine because all the members are there, but outside of class, each person has his/her own life to attend; meeting up outside isn't easy. (This project actually allowed me to witness deindividuation firsthand, as the blogposts showed. Each person either forgot it was his/her day or thought someone else would do it, which results in a large pile of work. However once heat is on a single person for a task, he/she is more likely to do it.)

I wish the information was easier to access. It's good that there is a website, but I had a slightly difficult time trying to get to certain documents or criteria. If they were labeled more clearly, that might help. But then again, it might just be me, who sucks with technology. Mr. Blake was trying to utilize the foot-in-the-door phenomenon maybe in hopes that we'll continue (or start) altruistic projects or develop empathy for those around us, but I'm not sure it'll work. Kona explained to me the goal of this project, but even though the goal is good and does evoke interest and care about the problem, the most important thing is about the grade. In the end, when people are stressed, they'll probably go for the grade over the good deed.

It didn't feel like we were doing science. When we had to come up with how this project was physics related, I felt like we were half-assing it. The focus of the project is not on physics, it seems to be trying to make the world a better place.

Yet another day missed.... i think. Blogpost +6

Our group is so LUCKY! You know why? because out of twelve groups to choose from, our group was chosen to speak first.... yay.... but most of it is due to the fact that six of the groups all had a similar topic, which was Akahi, so they were all grouped together in the second half of the presentation times. In other news, the paper we have to finish is due on monday. I'll admit that I'm kind of scared of this paper because i don't know what i'm supposed to be contributing to it, and when i do type something it gets corrected. You can find me on Google Docs on sunday, however, trying to do all i can to fix the paper. 


More Background information on our project: 
Since 2007, energy use has declined by 4% in spite of increased campus use and increased square footage of facilities. This is because punahou invested money into energy efficient technology.Punahou uses photovoltaic panels which are placed on the surfaces of the roofs of five existing buildings. After projects in 2008 and 2010, PV-generated energy increased from 0% to 12% of power requirements. Other everyday use buildings use energy efficient systems. The Flanders Dance Pavilion was built with a solar power lighting system and large fan natural cooling system. The same fan system was installed in a renovation of Hemmeter Field house along with energy-efficient lighting. All Lighting fixtures across campus have been changed out for energy-efficient bulbs, and a major refitting of the lighting system in Dillingham Hall reduced energy demands.
Kamehameha Schools is involved in the North Shore Plan, which has a part in energy efficiency. This pland helped to restore the Loko Ea fishpond, do agriculture water system improvements, and start development of alternative energy including solar, wind and hydro, improvements to commercial areas in Haleiwa Town and residential areas.

Blogpost +5 (more making up for days)

Our group is making pretty good progress as of now. The PA announcements went out, all of the data was finally collected by Robert Ramsey, all the posters are up, and we are currently practicing our speech for our presentation. Everything is going pretty good except for the blogpost, which we always seem to fall behind on. I'm actually typing this now to make up for that huge gap you can see from last week friday to this past thursday. So we decided to break down the presentation in to different sections. I get the background information, Kanoe has the graphs, Kory has the problem and process, Marisa has the solution and physics related part, and Kanoe finishes everything off with the conclusion. We've each have to create our own slides on Keynote, which we will then put together on one of our laptops and change all the fonts and themes so the all the slides match. I must admit that this presentation thing is pretty stressful. IT'S OUR FINAL EXAM GRADE... and on top of that, the entire class gets to evaluate us. Time limit plays a factor; you can't be under time, which is 9 minutes, or grossly overtime, which is when it starts reaching 15 min. On top of that, formal attire, enthusiasm, stance, transitions, info. content, and visuals all play into count as well. We are trying to prepare as best as we can. practice mauy not make perfect, but it'll make us better. #tryingnottofreakouttomuch

Random Blog post +4 (making up for days missed this past week)

Well in researching online to find information for the background part of our presentation, I found some interesting articles about the projects our school is involved in, and other projects other schools are involved in. Since our project is about energy efficiency, I went even further into researching about the energy efficiency project that Punahou is involved in. Did you know that punahou set out a goal to reduce 50% of their energy use by the year 2016? yep, it is somewhat amazing. They even involved the elementary kids in the project. The school created an interactive website that shows exactly how much energy each classroom in the K-1 building is using, and how much it cost per day. Awareness is really the key to solving the problem. so i was thinking that our school should get involved with a project similar to that, and luckily they kind of are. Our school is thinking about installing photovoltaic panels on the roofs of our major buildings like Konia, Paki, and Keku Gym.

PA Announcements

Yesterday I made a PA announcement at around 3:20. Instead of the recording, I used my own voice and spoke directly into the system. I really don't like public speaking or being in the spotlight at all, but there are some things that can't be helped. This was one of them. Anyway, hopefully we'll be able to make an announcement tomorrow if we're not too busy with our yearbook social and actual presentation. The office ladies seem to support our project. Aunty Judd, the office lady seated closest to Mrs. Martin's office,  is friendly. I always let her know (out of courtesy) that I will be using the PA system. Nothing has gone wrong yet, so I hope it will stay that way!