Last night, EF Education First hosted its annual Glocal Challenge, in which students at Cambridge’s Rindge and Latin High School Students proposed innovative ways to reduce energy inefficiencies and lower energy bills. This year, the City of Cambridge got in on the initiative, offering the winning teams internships and funding to make their projects a reality.
After eight weeks of preparation, around 125 students gathered to present their project proposals and 5 winners - including one determined by popular vote - were announced. Here were the top teams, as well as the sustainable initiatives they’ll be carrying out:
Team A.H.E.E.P.: By partnering with the Cambridge Housing Authority and Mass Save, these students are planning on making kits readily available to residents in affordable housing communities. The kits they’ve put together will include LED light bulbs, various faucet aerators, window insulation film and more. This team is also hoping to hold landlords accountable for contributing to sustainability. They propose legislation to tax landlords who don’t retrofit their properties to be energy-efficient, while rewarding those who do.
Team Greenlight: This group of students reached out to Nest and asked if the Google-owned company would be willing to heavily discount its nifty thermostats to Cambridge residents, and Nest agreed to a more than 50% discount. The devices adjust heat levels throughout so households aren’t expending unnecessary energy when no one is home or when people are sleeping. The team expects that an average household will be able to reduce its heating expenses 15% each year.
Team Greenergy: These students explained to me that many municipal buildings waste a great deal of energy overheating or overcooling. They plan to revamp temperature-control protocol to reduce unneeded energy use. Additionally, they’re targeting lighting, noting that schools and other city buildings keep the lights on all day - even if there’s enough natural light to keep rooms bright. By installing photosensors, they’d be able to limit lighting to when it’s truly too dark.
Team Lightbulbs: After looking into energy consumption of different public schools in Cambridge, these students pinpointed the 6 most inefficient elementary schools. They then developed a plan to renovate these buildings. Among the renovations proposed are properly insulating and air-sealing the schools. They also plan to install heat pumps.
Team Power Saviors: Winning the popular vote, this group of students pinpointed a certain type of tile that capture kinetic energy. The students hope to outfit buildings of their Rindge and Latin campus with these special tiles as a means to harness natural, sustainable energy and power their school rather than using other resources.
What they've won
So all of these teams will be working on bringing their projects to fruition with support from the City of Cambridge in terms of funding and resources. Following the announcement of these winners, there was a final pitch competition to secure a spot at EF’s Global Student Leaders Summit. Team Power Saviors and Team A.H.E.E.P. came out victorious, and they’ll be flying out to Iceland to attend the conference.
While the opportunities awarded to the winners are incredible, the overall process of coming up with an innovative project in and of itself was rewarding to students. All of the people involved in organizing the Glocal Challenge - EF, Cambridge and Rindge and Latin - have recognized that the competition serves as an educational experience so drastically different from any classwork students will ever encounter.
“Every year, I see the students grow up so much during the process,” said Andrew Miller, one of the teachers at Rindge and Latin High School. “I think it’s the perfect example of the difference between school and education.”
“Education is more about taking an unstructured, cross-curricular approach,” Miller continued. “That’s exactly how the students find themselves handling these projects.”“We want to show students that we actually care about their ideas and that we’re going to make them a reality.”[/pullquote]
At the same time, EF sees its program as means to give back to its Cambridge community. The challenge empowers students, giving them the chance to come up with concepts that, although done on the local level, could change the world.
“It blows my mind every year doing this program,” said Shawna Sullivan, Director at EF.
“The innovative ideas that these students come up with are incredible,” she added. “I’m amazed how they grasp complex concepts so fast and find new ways to address issues affecting the world that even people working in this space for years haven’t thought of.”
Cambridge officials are especially excited to be involved with the Glocal Challenge this year, and the city is hoping these student ideas will help secure the Georgetown Energy Prize. But, on a more profound level, the city is planning to invest in the next generation of Cambridge innovators. By giving financial backing and internships to these teams, Cambridge plans to show its full support for youth initiatives to start making changes.
“It’s not all talk,” Jen Lawrence, sustainability planner for the Cambridge Community Development Department, asserted. “We want to show students that we actually care about their ideas and that we’re going to make them a reality.”
Image via EF Tours.
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