Energy Efficiency in Schools

Schools today spend a large portion of their budget on energy costs. School buildings, dormitories and buses all use vast amounts of fuel and electricity, and the consumption is starting to take its toll on the environment, and on school funds.

Here are several programs aimed at increasing energy efficiency in schools:

From Construction Site to Home: Pallets Become Furniture

Pallet Furniture

Furniture Made from Pallets

You know what pallets are- they are wooden, movable platforms used to stack, store and move products. They are especially useful when using a forklift to move and store these goods. When pallets get too old to fulfill their mission, then what happens to these otherwise perfectly good pieces of wood? The answer is: In the right hands, just about anything can happen to these versatile, strong, building blocks for all kinds of furniture.

Don’t be surprised if you don’t see discarded pallets turning up as folding chairs, school desks, or lounge furniture. Many designers have been working with pallets, and have come up with some great ideas for recycling them. In particular two British designers launched a company in 2010 whose first project was an innovative design for a folding chair. Later they went the next step to creating a folding table. Both items can lay flat and are easy to store.

The designers patiently and painstakingly remove every nail and carefully take apart the wood and save the nails. When rebuilding the pallets into their folding chairs they reuse the nails and the wood, never using new wood or even new pallets. All the pallets they use are discarded and can’t be re-used as pallets. Any leftover wood from the pallets is made into another type of chair, which they call the X-Chair.

The designers are currently running a Kickstarter campaign, which can be viewed here:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/253161877/give-a-pallet-a-home

Students Learn About Green Living through IXG

The idea of preserving our planet should not be overlooked, nor should it be considered a foreign or unrealistic concept. It is so very important to educate our children about their impact on the environment, and how to live responsibly.

Here is a great example from Fisher Elementary School, who implemented the IXG endeavor with the Green Education Foundation in an effort to teach its students about green living: