SEI
  • Home
  • Programs
  • Stories
  • About Us
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Our Team
    • Media
    • Get Involved
    • Careers
    • Partners
    • Our Board
    • Our History
    • Contact
  • Give

Stories

How Consumption, Competition, and Creativity Inspired The Energy Challenge!

10/6/2020

0 Comments

 
By Tyler Valdes and Jessica Redden
The Energy Challenge, wind turbines in background
As the world came to a halt and schools began to shut down in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, our team at SEI sheltered in our homes along with others including teachers, students, school staff, and their families. Many of us turned on lights and appliances, turned up the air conditioning or heating, plugged in our devices, and made meals with the stove and microwave. From telecommuting to online classes, we are home now more than ever and we are consuming more energy than ever! Remember that oven you hadn't touched for months? Were you one of many (including ourselves) that made banana bread in the first few months of shelter-in-place? Alongside baking, we have all taken on activities that use energy in some shape or form. As students consume energy during stay-at-home orders, it is critical that they are aware of the importance of energy conservation and energy efficient technologies. These energy saving habits will carry on when they return to school and eventually to their own homes or places of work.
At SEI, we are building leaders for a resilient world, both online and offline. Back in 2014, we set out to inspire high school students to become energy conservation and efficiency leaders in their homes, schools, and communities by participating in our annual Energy Conservation Competition. Over the past few years and across the state of California, high schools competed against each other to create the best campaign to encourage energy conservation. Student teams have educated their school staff and their fellow students on energy-saving actions, which has resulted in a total of 916,628 kWh of energy saved, $129,473 saved in energy bill costs, and 370,363 pounds of carbon dioxide kept out of the atmosphere! These outreach campaigns have included putting up flyers, making school announcements, and creating educational videos. However, with most schools still closed as we enter the 2020-21 academic year, our team innovated and transformed the competition into an accessible, online platform.

Through creativity and collaboration, we designed The Energy Challenge, a month-long virtual competition for high school students with hands-on activities that are adaptable for distance, hybrid, or in-person learning. Students are now encouraged to conserve energy at home and educate their community using online tools such as social media. As we strive to improve the accessibility of our resources and programs, we designed The Energy Challenge to be completely bilingual in English and Spanish! Starting October 5th, we are excited to launch weekly challenges that range from home energy audits to leading conservation campaigns - all of which can be either synchronous or asynchronous with class time. As an incentive, we are giving away $3,000 in prizes to student participants. Through this program, we hope to empower students with the knowledge and skills to save energy, money, and the planet!

Looking to energize your classroom? Visit SEI’s The Energy Challenge page to learn more!
Visit the energy challenge page
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    The SEI Team

    Environmental education and workforce development experts share stories from the field

    Archives

    March 2023
    January 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    August 2022
    June 2022
    March 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020

    Categories

    All
    Board Spotlight
    Career Pathways
    Climate Corps
    Education Resources
    Energize Careers
    Energize Colleges
    Energize Schools
    Fellow Spotlight
    School Of Environmental Leadership
    School Sustainability
    Youth Action

    RSS Feed

Get Involved

Mission

Careers

Give

Picture
Picture

Contact Us

Phone: (415) 507-2181

​Email:
sei@seiinc.org

​SEI Headquarters

100 Smith Ranch Road, Suite 124
San Rafael, CA 94903

Additional Locations

Greater New York
Los Angeles
North Carolina
​Oregon

​Sacramento
San Diego
Seattle

Connect

Subscribe to the SEI quarterly newsletter to get involved and receive updates
subscribe

SEI is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
Strategic Energy Innovations © ​2022.   Privacy Policy   Terms of Use
  • Home
  • Programs
  • Stories
  • About Us
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Our Team
    • Media
    • Get Involved
    • Careers
    • Partners
    • Our Board
    • Our History
    • Contact
  • Give