Potential classroom projects range from sending students into the halls with clipboards, to asking their input on ways children can help. Lighting accounts for more than 50 percent of the electric bill in most schools. According to ASE s reports, students standardized test scores improve when they work under natural light. Landscape to protect walls and windows from heat and glare. Keep thermostats at 68 degrees for heating and 78 degrees for cooling.
Books love to absorb the heat meant to warm human fingers and toes.
Also consider keeping the hallways cooler than classrooms. Stop leaky windows. Students are eager to play with draft meter measuring tools to help officials discover windows that need attention. Turn off computers when not in use. So if all U.S. schools upgraded to meet energy-conservation standards, the reduction in air pollution would be equivalent to removing 1 million cars from the nation s highway.