Matilda Curley, Class IV; Emma Stompor, Class IV; and Fatima Zahra, Class IV
Photo Credit: Matilda Curley
It looks like discipuli aren’t the only people battling B’s and conquering C’s. Our school might wind up wanting some extra credit when it comes to energy efficiency. The shameful 75%, (which we received on our energy efficiency in 2022), in our doorway displays this to the passersby.
Is it getting hot in here, or is it just me? It actually isn’t just me. It seems that we aren’t the only ones getting too warm from how we heat our classrooms, the earth is too. The heaters that line most of the rooms in our school are producing large amounts of carbon in an effort to raise the number on the thermostat. Exactly how much carbon are these heaters really emitting, though?
According to John, the head custodian of our building, ”We have three dual fuel boilers which normally run on Natural Gas, but when the temperature hits 20 degrees or below we switch over to #2 oil.” The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency tells us that #2 oil produces 73.96kg CO2 per mmBtu. To put this into perspective, this means that #2 oil uses 0.07396 metric tons of CO2 per mmBtu. This is 0.52828888 metric tons per gallon, meaning that a 6,000 gallon boiler full of #2 oil would produce 3,169.7333 tons of CO2.
The thing is, this heating is going right out the window… literally. When asked, 3 dozen class IV discipuli, (as well as one magister), unanimously decided that they had seen heaters on with windows open next to them in classrooms.
Allied Air Conditioning and Heating Corp. says, “If you open your windows when it’s cold out, the cool air will put additional pressure on your heating system. Your furnace, heat pump, or boiler now has to work harder to maintain the temperature your thermostat is set at, which also wastes energy and increases your energy bills.” To disambiguate this: Heat comes into a classroom but some leaves through a window, meaning the heater has to work extra hard to keep the room warm, which ultimately leads to energy waste.
Having a window or two open isn’t for nothing, though. Better Health Channel explains, “Ventilation is very important as it allows fresh air to come in and fumes to go out.” Not having adequate ventilation in classrooms is an issue that can lead to health problems of all sorts. This is especially true when using gas/oil heating. Improper ventilation paired with gas/oil heating could lead to dangerous levels of carbon monoxide and/or nitrogen dioxide, both of which are toxic substances. Having windows open is also beneficial in how it allows fresh air into the classrooms, which mitigates the spread of respiratory illness/airborne disease. Luckily, (according to the Department of Education’s ventilation report), 93% of rooms in our building are reported to have proper ventilation already. Despite this pleasing report, the Department of Education mandates having a window open in a full classroom due to COVID-19, as well as the ventilation system.
So what option do we have left? Having windows open with heaters turned on wastes energy, and having windows shut with heaters turned on is a health hazard. Fortunately, there are various ways to ventilate rooms without leaving our windows ajar. Schools utilizing technology such as fans, air purifiers, plants, or even just opening the windows and turning off the heat every now and then could improve ventilation without wasting energy. Additionally, during the colder months, it is far more comfortable for the students to use this air purifying apparatus than it is to open a window. All-in-all, non-renewable resources, (alongside money), end up being poured out of windows in an attempt to ventilate classrooms. Now is a crucial time for us to figure out how to maintain a comfortable environment in the school building without leaving a carbon footprint that shares its shoe size with that of a yeti.