On 6th of May 2009, FOMCA, Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association, came to SMK Sri Permata to give a talk on the conservation of electricity. All monitors and heads of cleanliness of Forms Remove, 1 to 5 classes participated in this event. The talk was held from 10:30 am to 12:30noon.
At 10:05 am, students gathered in the hall, while the lecturers set up the electronic devices with the help of school teachers.
At 10:30 am, the lecture started. The lecturer started with introducing the students to the concept of
energy.
We were told that, the ventilation fans in the hall are actually using about the same power as a 1 1/2 horse power air-conditioner.
He then talks about the usages and consumers of electricity, the economy, and the development that energy had created. He also tells the students how much they're
wasting energy through everyday life, and that they can
only changeby using less energy and more efficiently.After that, he explains the route electricity takes from the power plant to consumers. He then shows the students energy auditing by auditing the energy used for a TV and a 1000W air-conditioner.
For an air-conditioner, these are the statistics if they use them for 5 hours a day: RM 397.85/year for one air-conditioner, RM 795.70/year for two, RM 1193.55/year for three, and RM 1591.40 for four.
He conducted a survey on the usage of water and energy. Our usage of electricity can be checked through their website,
www.switch.org.my, by using the calculator provided. He did a quick calculation on that website to show us that energy efficient appliances save a lot of money when compared to non-energy efficient electrical appliances. A table showing the highest and lowest efficiency of different electronic appliances was given to us.
The use of air-conditioners: setting air-conditioner at 240Celsius and deactivate it when it rains, save a lot of energy from being wasted.
Students are divided into four groups to audit usage at several places around the school - the hall, the library, staff room and other areas. Students started walking around looking for electrical appliances to calculate the electric power.
The lecturer says that anything that rotates consumes energy and it should be well-maintained as it takes more energy to rotate if any of the parts were not properly maintained.
The fridge should be 2/3 full, whereas the freezer should be 3/4 full. We also need to plan what to take from the fridge as each time the door is opened 30% of the cold air will escape, resulting to more energy wasted.
He also told us about a proposal - a punishable tariff; the more you use, the more you pay. Students are now able to calculate the usage of electricity in their homes, which would help to conserve energy and money.
The principal, Mr. Ong Hock Thye, said this knowledge would help the students because they would make a world of change if the knowledge acquired is put to good use. He added that FOMCA's employees are experienced in the field of conservation and Sri Permata is fortunate to have its President Datuk N. Marimuthu in the school PTA committee.
He hopes that what had started in SMK Sri Permata will be practised by others outside the school, like the garbage enzyme campaign whcih has started since March. He is also confident that what the school is doing will bring a change to many. He thanked the students for taking part in the talk.Students were asked to give comments on the talk.
Generally, many benefited from the talk. They learnt how to calculate the electricity tariffs, learn to conserve and also able to look for energy saving appliances.
Reported by:
ECO Ho JZ
