my internship experience
my personal experience as an intern at The Energy Coalition
over the course of the last 4 weeks, i've been conducting research on the energy crisis that plagues America, how it affects the economy, the planet, the people (and their wallets), and what can be done to prevent so much waste. the short answer? a lot of things. the long answer? there's a wide array of things that you can change in your own home
water usage (and overuse) comes from many sources, so let's target 5 of the most important ones. first up are showers. on average, a shower last just over 8 minutes, with 2.1 gallons of water used every minute in the shower. if you shower for that long every day for a year, you'd use over 6,000 gallons of water. if we as a society can cut down that time by 2 minutes, we can reduce water useage by 1,500 gallons
another thing that a lot of people do is leave the sink on when they brush their teeth we really only use the water for 10 seconds, which is to wet the bristles and then clean the toothbrush, and yet we still leave them on for 2 minutes, 2 times a day. cutting that time in half would decrease gallons used per day by almost 4 and a half per household!
at number 3, waiting to do laundry. I've done this myself innumerable times. if you do all your laundry at once instead of doing half loads more times throughout the week, wait that extra day to fill the washing machine up as much as you can
the 4th thing that most people already do is use a dishwasher. keeping a sink running the entire time you wash dishes uses roughly 24 less gallons compared to washing dishes by hand.
the last, and definitely best for long term, is installing high efficiency items (shower heads, toilets, low flow hose nozzles, etc). doing everything listed above but with tools that optimize the resources they use.
next up is energy. saving energy is similar to saving water in many ways, but we also use electricity more on a day to day basis compared to water. so much of what we have access to depends on electricity. whatever device youre using to read this is eating it up as we go on!
number 1 is avoiding turning on AC. now of course that doesn't mean never use it, but first consider putting on a jacket when its cold out, or switching out the sweatpants for some more breathable shorts, or closing a window instead!
at number 2, we have turning electronics off whenever they're not in use. nobody is perfect, we all fall asleep watching a show, or leave the house with the kitchen light on. but turning off the living room light and letting the sun illuminate your house can cut down on electricity much more than you think
the 3rd, and potentially most common one, is leaving things plugged in. leaving electronics plugged in continuously "bleed" energy. this means that energy is pushed through them, but doesn't have anywhere to go, so it's used to keep their "standby" mode in effect. some electronics also have power saving modes, so either unplugging them or putting them into power saving mode can help reduce costs by a hefty amount.
4 and 5 lump together, so this is a 2-point. getting a home audit and then making improvements based off of that. in the most basic form, an audit is a review of your house to see how much energy you use (and waste). from this breakdown, you can then replace appliances with ENERGY STAR products, replacing normal lightbulbs with energy efficient light bulbs, and other appliances. by doing this, you can save hundreds of dollars.
now, lets get into what I've learned about Escondido
POWERVILLE STATISTICS
school name | numbers | stat |
---|---|---|
powerville high | GAS: $1029 annually | most expenses toward gas |
steven sparkler high | ENERGY: $5,742 | most expenses toward electricity |
steven sparkler middle | GAS: 143.55 | least expenses towards gas |
powerville middle | 1368.5 | least expenses towards electricity |
sparkler high | 47,593,000 | most water usage |
sparkler middle | 20,114,640 | least water usage |
FINDINGS: for the most part, a school with a higher gas bill has less in electricity, or vice versa. additionally, middle schools have overall LESS water usage than high schools. this is primarily due to student and faculty population.
The primary electricity consumer for most schools is charging electronics and lights. if laptops are unplugged when fully charged and lights aren't used as much during the day (so sunlight lights up a room), this will dramatically cut electricity costs down
EQUITY REPORT:
unfortunately, I was unable to find any true information on my zip code, 92025, so I cannot complete this part.
MY OVERALL INTERNSHIP OVERVIEW/ EXPERIENCE
overall, my internship has been overwhelmibgly positive with ONE single massive caviat.
working for this company has given me the chance to realize a lot of things about myself that i otherwise would not have, both positive and negative. the biggest things that have stuck with me is that I still have that childlike wonder of learning how things work internally. for the longest time, I had always wondered how things that seem normal to me now (such as videogames, showers, plants, etc).
knowing more about the state of the world and how electricity, water, and gas function has helped me ignite that flame of curiosity again. this has also made me realize that i can't sit at a desk for a job. I was talking to my mother, and she told me that she does something similar to this for her work, and I just can't understand how she can do this from 7:30 to 5:30 four days a week. I think part of it is that I need to feel some sort of constant mental stimulation ( which is why i bounce my leg up and down or always have music playing in the background). i have the utmost respect for jobs like this, but it just isn't for me
overall, my favorite part of this internship was the SDG&E field trip. the food was surprisingly good, the meaningful, honest conversations were nice, and it helped me learn that they aren't just a giant corporation, but actual people. the games that we played (while very buggy) were also surprisingly fun. i expected it to be much more childish based off the video, but it ended up being very engaging.
and now, my one biggest drawback of this internship. the project itself. I'll be fully transparent; I know I could have put more effort into it if I hadn't stressed about it so much. i also feel like part of it is that it was written in a way that didn't make sense to me. i ended up spending a few nights awake until 3 or 4 rereading over and over again to see if i could make it make sense in my head, but I digress. its also partially due to the fact we had normal assignments, zoom meetings that ate into project time, and my own numerous personal issues that always pop up around this time of year. even though it might not seem like it at times, I really did put all of the energy i had into this internship. it just was forced on me at an innopportune time in my life. i appreciated meeting everyone I did, and I send my best wishes to everyone on the team and every intern after me. this opportunity i've had will help me pave my future in a way that i didnt think possible. heres the link to the video segment too.