It's Easy Being Green in Old Saybrook, Connecticut

OLD SAYBROOK - Imagine being a fourth grader with the opportunity to educate people about energy conservation.

Such an opportunity was given to 40 Old Saybrook Middle School fourth-graders who attend two science classes taught by Karen Evans.

Students work in groups and have decided to take on a number of projects.

Perhaps, the one that stands out the most is the permission that was acquired to setup a three-dimensional display on a busy Saturday outside the Old Saybrook Wal-Mart near the garden center.

Evans said the students planned to highlight the differences between incandescent and fluorescent compact light bulbs with the Energy Star seal.

An incandescent bulb costs approximately $0.36, has a brightness of 1,600 lumens, lasts up to 1,125 hours and uses 100 watts of energy while a compact florescent bulb has an average cost of $7.97, has the same brightness, lasts for 10,000 hours and uses only 23 watts of energy.

This means that compact fluorescent bulbs last up to 10 times longer and use 75 percent less energy.

In fact, the Energy Star Web site states that if every American replaced one incandescent light bulb for a compact fluorescent, it would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes a year, reduce annual energy costs by more than $600 million, and prevent greenhouse gasses equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars.

Compact fluorescent bulbs' energy is used by creating light rather than heat making them cooler to touch and cooler in the home during the summer.

Evans is hopeful Wal-Mart will soon donate incandescent light bulbs to the school that can be given out to each student's family.

Shoppers can be environmentally friendly by purchasing a $1 reusable shopping bag near the checkouts at Wal-Mart.

These bags are made from 85 percent recycled content, hold twice as much as an average plastic bag, and the store will take them back for recycling once they are at the end of their useful life.

Jimmy Henderson was one of the students who worked on this project and he created posters with energy tips that decorate the hallway walls in Old Saybrook Middle School.

Student McKenza Egbert helped create those posters along with placemats with energy tips that have been donated to Pizza Works at Saybrook Junction Marketplace.

Another student, Jessica Holmes, who helped Egbert with the placemats, said "it was really cool for them to go to a real restaurant where people could see them."

Student Maiwenn Gauvrit said she worked with Holmes on an additional project of creating a calendar highlighting a different energy tip with a photo or hand-drawn picture each month.

Evans said students recently completed the writing, performing, and filming of a commercial about energy conservation that will soon be shown during morning announcements on the middle school's in-house television station.

Students are also working on creating a global warming booth where peers during lunch could play a game to help them learn more about energy conservation.