"Be Bright Turn Out the Light"

At the end of this week we are planning to post up signs and make PA announcements in efforts to decrease the usage of energy on the upper campus. So we kindly ask the viewers of this blog to look out for the signs like the one above and follow what they say "Be Bright Turn Out the Light". Feel free to share them with your teachers and do the pono thing when you leave a room with no one in it at the end of the day. Our goal as a group is to provide an awareness to the students, the faculty, and the staff about this on going problem and to eventually move toward a greener campus by reducing the amount of electrical waste we use daily.

Productive

This week our group was very productive in meeting deadlines and accomplishing what was on our detailed design for the week. We got the permission to use the PA system at the end of the day, have gotten the approval to post up our posters and signs, and are now in the process of scheduling a meeting with Mr. Bob Ramsey. By the end of this week, our main goal is to release a prototype. The problem that we still face is figuring pit a way to gather an accurate amount of data that measures how much energy is conserved as our project progresses. Our group hopes that the answer to this question will come when we have our meeting with Mr. Ramsey.

E-mails

Photo courtesy of Securifix.com

So today Keana sent out an e-mail to Ms. Yamamoto and I sent out an e-mail requesting an audience with Ms. Martin. Hopefully these busy ladies can get back to us so we can start our campaign. Kory made a cute poster and came up with a neat little slogan. We were thinking about the PA system idea, should we get approval, and wondered if an adult's voice might be better to convey our message, but Mr Blake suggested otherwise. He believes that to the teachers, our voices might impact the teachers more to show them that we the students are conducting this project. Anyway, I feel like we're making much needed progress now. We're each designing our own informational posters so we have material if we get approved to post up awareness posters around school. And hopefully we can get more information about Robert Ramsey or his work with the electricity things...

Random Blog-posting +2

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Our problem with the teachers is when they go to meeting or lunch break or whatever, they leave their classroom lights on. On monday there was that mandatory meeting for all teachers and I walked around Konia and saw that many of them left either their lights or their air condition on. But after  the 'nighttime drive' blogpost, our group realized that one of our main concerns right now is the janitors on campus. I remember when I had to stay in school till nine at night when there was practice for states for speech, many of the lights were on. They clean from between 6, which as the time I got up to Konia from track practice, till nine, which is about the time I left school. For about three hours the lights are on. Every time they clean on row of classrooms, they turn all of the lights in every classroom on until they are done cleaning all of them. Even after they are finished cleaning the room they leave the lights on till the entire hallway is finished cleaning. On top of that, the bathroom light are always on at night, and that's the first thing they clean, like right after school after all the buses come. Which brings me to another point. Ever realize that the bathroom lights are on during the entire day even when the windows provide light? We don't even need the lights on in the bathroom and yet they are on when the sun is shining bright through the bathroom. I think people just need to be reminded that when the light isn't necessary, then it shouldn't be on.

Random Blog-posting

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So I'm not sure if we're behind with any of our blog post, but if we are, then hopefully y random blog posting will make up for it. So yesterday I emailed Ms. Yamamoto because she's the person we need to talk to in getting our signs approved. Last class we also decided that it would be a good idea to all make up our own signs and possibly come up with a slogan. I think we should add a little bit of information at the bottom of the sign to talk about why we a re doing this and to tell people about the project since only students in Mr. Blake's physics class know about the project. I was thinking about doing a tribal design, but then we realized that it should be related to conserving electricity. So maybe lightbulbs? yeah, lightbulbs around the boarders sounds good. It's the slogan that's gonna be hard to come up with. I was thinking along the lines of, "be bright, turn off the lights" which is kind of similar to the poster Kory created but instead of "off" it says "out". So the slogan sounds cheesy, but aren't most of them suppose too? I guess it makes people remember them more.Well hopefully I'll get word back from the Akahi Student Center about sign approvals, but just to make sure and keep one step ahead I'm going to go in during lunch period today and see if she's there. Maybe i can set up an appointment or just straight up get her approval. After I get this approval done and we get Mrs. Martin's approval, we just need to make the messages, create the signs, and our prototype should be ready. I hope it's ready by next week because i think we have nine days left.

NIGHT TIME DRIVE

Last night i took a drive up to Kaahumanu parking lot at around 9:30 at night time and i was surprised at what i saw. There were multiple classrooms with the lights still on. I could also hear the air conditioners roaring. When i went to investigate and take a closer look, there was absolutely nobody in the classrooms. This is a major problem. We leave lights and a/c 's on all night and waste so much energy. It is terrible. This is one of the problems that we want to fix. We are currently making signs to remind teachers to turn off their lights when they are not needed. Our signs around campus may also remind janitors to shut everything off when they are done cleaning the rooms.

eleven days

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So as of friday we finished the detailed design. We now have a schedule for the next couple of weeks of what we have to fulfill and do to make sure our 'prototype' is out an working by the due date. I think the main thing our group has to do is get the approval of Mrs. Martin so we can go forth with our project. After the approval we have to watch the presentation and collect data from  Bob Ramsey and his team on the electrical usage. We are also currently working on putting in pictures to our paper to make it more entertaining and to show greater examples like charts and graphs. So our group is all on google docs fixing, adding, and changing information around so we can have an excellent paper. There are 11 days until the prototype is out and running, so we need to hurry because 11 days counts the weekends as well.

Detailed Design

Today we finished our detailed design. We were kind of rushing, but I think it turned out alright. Kanoe made the schedule and the rest of us worked on the writing. I think this project is going to be a lot more difficult than anyone imagined because of the permissions and the inability we will have to really check whether or not we make a difference. The abstract, intangible problems are the most difficult. Kanoe and I talked earlier, and we came to the consensus that although our little project might not turn out as we'd originally hoped, hopefully it will cause a bigger movement than just our project. We want to move the school by awareness to push for a more eco-friendly or sustainable campus. If we could spark a movement, the momentum would keep it going into next year, if we are successful.

Physics Related

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The definition of physics is among the lines of:  The science of nature, or of natural objects; that branch of science which treats of the laws and properties of matter, and the forces acting upon it; especially, that department of natural science which treats of the causes (as gravitation, heat, light, magnetism, electricity, etc.) that modify the general properties of bodies; natural philosophy.


Electrons can be made to move from one atom to another, and when the electrons move between the atoms, a current of electricity is created. This is what happens in a piece of wire. The electrons are passed from atom to atom, creating an electrical current from one end to other.

The generation of electric power produces more pollution than any other single industry in the United States. According to the website PowerScorecard, the electricity industries in the U.S. were responsible for:

• 63% of sulfur dioxide emissions that contribute to acid rain
• 22% of NOx emissions that contribute to urban smog
• 39% of carbon emissions that contribute to global climate change
• 33% of mercury emissions that pose significant health risks

Computers, cellphones, and every other piece of technology needs electricity to function. Since we live in a world where electricity is playing a more important role in our lives and in the economy, it is important that we also take care of the environment by using electricity efficiently.So not only is electricity part of physics, but the environment is too. This isn't exactly explaining in detail of how it is physics related, but this is some important information.

More Plans

We are currently planning how we are going to collect data. Because we cannot get the exact numbers of the amount of electricity, we need to find alternate ways to collect data. Some of the ways that we came up with would be giving teachers surveys. Though this sounds like a good idea, we could not gaurente that we would get good data. This is because we dont know if all of the teachers will fill out the forms because they are so busy. This was our main idea that we came up with. We are currently in the process of brain storming more ways to collect good data. FOR SOME REASON MY BLOG DIDNT POST WHEN IT WAS SUPPOSED TO! SO I HAD TO RELOAD IT

Making Progress

A kitten from the Treehuggers club and an earring I made

So for the past few years our school has been trying to become more sustainable, and gradually students and teachers alike are moving towards a more green future with regards to recycling. This past year we had  the Sustainability Fair for the sake of encouraging everyone to become more green and more educated about sustainability. (I participated by making recyclable jewelry.) I'm hoping that the coordinator, Mr. Mills, might have some ideas about where our school wants to go with this sustainability goal. In other words, what exactly is our goal? Do we have some overall objective? Anyway, I am still editing and writing an e-mail to him, but I think he might be a good source from whom to learn.

In other news, because Mr. Blake has commented on our google document, we will make sure to make some changes, research more, and edit our proposal to sound more professional.

A Push to Energy Conservation

Today will complete our second week of working on the Ho'oulu iā Kamehameha project. Mr. Blake got back to us from talked to Mr. Ramsey and shared that there has already been steps taken in finding out our school's energy usage. We found out that on each building, there are check meters that have been installed to gather information on our energy consumption. Mr. Ramsey shared that he has three years worth of information but the only problem is that the information from this year won't be ready by the time allotted for this project. So, for this upcoming week, we'll work on compiling a survey of questions that will be given to teacher in efforts to find out how teachers are conserving energy. We also plan to post awareness posters in hopes to  educate our students and staff about how conserving energy on campus can benefit everyone in the future.

I Finally Watched The Lorax

                                                                  (Universal Pictures)
The Lorax was actually a pretty good movie, i thought it was kinda cute. Although, it is somewhat different from the book because the lorax appears and talks in the movie a lot whereas in the book, he's says short lines and isn't the main focus and Audrey isn't in the book either (but I  love Taylor Swift and Zac Efron as the voices of Ted and Audrey). In the movie the Once-ler became rich by chopping down all of the truffula trees, and he didn't notice that he was hurting the environment until after the very last truffula tree was cut down. Fortunately, this 12-year-old kid named Ted is convinced by this girl Audrey that he's kind of in love with to plant the last truffula seed that he has. So Ted actually plants the seed to impress audrey, but after he gets really involved with saving the environment and the ecosystem that the Once-ler destroyed so that the trees can grow back and the Lorax can go home. So in relating this to our physics project, the Once-ler is kind of like the school. The school was made for the benefit of others, but there are a lot of problems with the school that the school doesn't take care or have the time to take care of. So its up to us physics students to solve the problems. We are all probably just doing this project to get a good grade kind of like how Ted was only planting the seed for Audrey, but after a while I think we'll start to see how fixing these inconveniences can actually benefit us and everyone else a lot. We'll probably get personally involved with the project half way into it just like Ted and the environment. The Lorax also presented the idea of how on individual could make a difference in the world. While I won't be able to make a difference in the world yet, I can at least start by making a difference in the school. And in the end everyone will be happy and the Lorax can return home. :)

How Other Schools Conserve Electricity

So according to an article in Aware Magazine, Punahou School is one of the leading schools in conserving energy. Their Case Middle School costed around 60 Million dollars to build, but it has some of the most advanced energy conserving technology in the nation. The eighth grade learning center uses Photovoltaic technology to store energy into batteries, which the school uses later on during the regular school days. The Athletic Complex was designed to use skylights to reduce the amount of artificial lighting used, and many of the classrooms were constructed to have huge windows so natural lighting could flow through the hallways and classrooms. Almost every building is air conditioned, but a new system installed in the middle school might be installed in other places later. They have an ice system that creates ice over night and then the ice melts during the day, which cools down the air so the air conditions don't have to be on during the entire day. (http://www.punahou.edu/page.cfm?p=2344)

Iolani built a control system in the Weinberg building they created in 2004. The control system is very simple and needs very little maintenance, and it can activate and turn off the heating, air conditioning, and ventilation systems through the entire school. The control system can also record data and record graphs in real time so engineers can keep up on maintenance in certain buildings. To cut electricity that the Weinberg building uses, Iolani School installed Light Shelves, which capture the light on the exterior of buildings and reflect it to the ceilings of classrooms creating natural lighting. (http://www.hawaiibusiness.com/Hawaii-Business/March-2004/Upbuilding/)

Clarkstown Central School district controls many different elementary, middle, and high school buildings within Rockland County, New York. 13 of their school buildings were installed with photovoltaic systems and replaced old vending machines and lighting sensors to new ones that power down when not in use.

PLANNIN

Now that we know exactly what we are going to focus on, we need to find out more information on the task at hand. We plan to go back and speak to Mama Fujj, who originally gave us the idea of sustainability. We are currently thinking of questions to ask and we came up with a few. Some of these questions include information about our schools electricity usage. The amount of electricity our schools uses weekly? monthly? yearly? We also need to do research on ways that we can put our plan into action. Also how we must figure out how we are going to keep track of energy use for comparison. This is where we are at so far in our quest for sustainability.

Research in Progress

With much deliberation, our group has decided to focus on the sustainability of our school. Going into this first weekend of knowing what our project will be focused on, each group member had the task of researching how this problem could be solved. On Monday we will be meeting with one another to share our new findings, thoughts, and ideas to lead us to the creation of a thesis statement. The usages of websites for myself was very successful in gathering information about how we can approach this problem.  But the internet can only go so far, maybe throughout the next couple of days, we'll be able to schedule an interview with someone that could give us a bit more insight in making this outcome complete.

AC and Lights Problem

Photo courtesy of Todaynewz.com

Mama Fuj brought it to our attention that the school wastes a lot of energy by merely leaving the ACs and lights on when there is no one in the classroom. The teachers are not malicious with this; they probably just forget that the lights and AC are still on when they leave. Because this isn't their home, they might not care about the bill as much as they would in their own homes. As a group we are hoping to be able to remind teachers to turn these things off at the end of the day, maybe by putting up posters or even PA announcements at the end of the day. In order to measure the success of this, we will try to get the electricity bill or estimate of a regular month and maybe compare it to after our project... This is kind of like the electricity project we did earlier in the year, but on a larger scale.

MEETING WITH THE MAMA

Today we took our journey to midkiff to speak with the famous Mama Fujj! She has been here for many many many many many years and knows a lot about the campus. When we asked her some problems that she had in the school and she just smiled and said many. When she began to go into detail some of the problems that stuck out was the lunch lines in Akahi, the power outlets in midkiff (we need more), another place for students to socialize, and finally the electric use at Kamehameha Schools. We are taking all of these problems into consideration and will try to come up with a solution as soon as we can decide on the problem that we would like to try and solve.


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Tuesday Brainstorming

So this blogpost is actually tuesday's blogpost. We've been continuing to collect new ideas and gather information about problems on campus. In physics class we watched a video about a cool innovation made by a father and son in the Philippines. The problem in the Philippines was that much of the population in the city they were living in had really dark houses and the people would have to turn on the electricity to see in their houses during the day. Having the electricity on for almost the whole day is very expensive and inconvenient. So to solve the problem, this guy and his son saved  two liter water bottles, filled them up with water, added in some chlorine, and cut a spot in the roof to install it. The mixture causes the liquid to glow allowing the room to light up. It was a very simple solution, and our class wondered why no one has thought of it before, and if they had, why didn't they solve it? Finding a problem no one has thought to solve that has a very simple solution is kind of hard to find on campus. As mentioned before, one of our ideas was fixing the crack in the pool. It's a major inconvenience for all of the students and faculty that use the pool; the only problem is that the solution is not simple. I talked to my homeroom teacher during homeroom, and since she is one of the teachers that works in Midkiff, she said a problem is the outlets. Many of the outlets in Midkiff don't work, and the ones that do, there are no extension cords for kids in other parts of Midkiff to use. I think that could be one solvable idea. Tomorrow our group is going to go talk to one of the learning center librarians to see if they have any more ideas.

A Work in Progress

During today's class we shared our bug lists with each other in efforts to agree on a topic to help this school, Kamehameha, to be more successful to those who it serves. After this meeting was finished. We all decided to gather more information and details on a topic that was on our own bug list. With more of a better understanding, we will come back to class discuss and finally agree upon a single topic that would present as our culminating 4th quarter project. Until then I wish my group members luck in hopes of coming a cross the topic that will help us better this campus and make it more efficient.

Kanoe's Lorax Review

The Lorax originally written by the famous Dr. Seuss was rebuild into a film produced by Chris Meledandri and Janet Healy and directed by Chris Renaud and Kyle Balda. These filmmakers produced such a movie that contained humor, a great message, as well as Dr. Seuss’ whimsicality all into a film that addresses many valuable messages. The story begins where a 12 year old boy named Ted is on a journey to find a real Truffula tree to impress a girl named Audrey. So, Ted ventures out of his village and meets the Once-ler who as a youngster claimed a fortune making thneeds. But after cutting down the first tree he met the Lorax who is the caretaker of all the trees and tells him not to cut them down or the wrath of nature will come upon him. Eventually through event, the Once-ler cuts down all the growing trees leaving the world trashed and causing the people to rely on purchasing clean air. In the events to come the Once-ler gives a seed to Ted after deeming Ted worthy. He then goes through another journey back to his village to plant the seed in hopes to restore the environment that was once there. Through the whole story, there were many characters that although didn’t have the same interests all came together to create a better picture for everyone. 

Bug List

-Fix the pool--The lack of a pool inconveniences many people. Although we ourselves probably cannot help directly with the building of the pool, maybe we could find a way to help the project move along faster.

-Improve morale of students--Students dread school; improving this condition would probably help teachers as well.

-Rally to give students more power/less like mental institution--Students have a very small opinion against administration's large one.

Photo courtesy of Hawaiireporter.com

-Make a basketball hoop above the rubbish can--This would make throwing trash away enjoyable or something. Hopefully this would encourage students not to litter.

-Increase the number of Akahi buffet lines--We want to try to decrease the congestion that students face almost every day despite other measures taken to decrease congestion already.

There will be more to add later as we interview our friends and teachers.

THE LORAX (KORY)

Watching the movie The Lorax brought me back to feeling like a kid again. As a child, i read all of the Dr. Sues books because they were all i could read. From watching the movie now and reading the book as a little kid, i look at it way differently. To connect this to our upcomming project, we may find something that works and is very successful. But, we cant be selfish. We need to look who is affected positively and negatively by our invention. But all in all, i am looking forward to having a successful project.