Last year at CHS, I heard much debate about excess spending on electricity, yet after attempts to bring in more environmentally friendly lights, I witnessed even more controversy.

Since CHS was ranked the high school that used the most electricity in Montgomery County this past year, many students and staff members had been trying to develop news ways to be more environmentally friendly.

Social studies teacher Justin Ostry mentioned the fluorescent lamps that were being used to help the school become more environmentally friendly but that had to be removed due to complaints that students could not see and that it disrupted their learning environment.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s website, even though fluorescent lamps save both energy and money, the amount of light given off by the lamps is not enough. Also, many harmful chemicals reside in fluorescent lamps, and according to OrwellToday.com, a website that shows the dangers of commonly used electrical products, mercury, which has been known to cause brain damage, is found in fluorescent bulbs, which could be potentially harmful for students.

Using fluorescent lamps is great start, but we should move to more efficient means of energy.

Many of these fluorescent bulbs have deadly chemicals which I think overshadow the benefits of these bulbs.

Instead of fluorescent lamps, solar energy is something that the county has been recently trying to implement. Last year, Montgomery County made a partnership with SunEdison, a company that specializes in providing solar photovoltaic (PV) systems which converts solar radiation into a direct current electricity.

According to montgomeryschoolsmd.org, SunEdison allows both students and faculty members to view system performance, historical data, weather data, and environmental benefits of the taking place in the county.

This program has already been implemented in schools like College Gardens Elementary School, Shriver Elementary School, Francis Scott Key Middle School, Parkland Middle School, Lakelands Park Middle School, Clarksburg High School, Quince Orchard High School, and Richard Montgomery High School.

According to a public announcement by MCPS, estimated savings of $10,000 a year, amount to $200,000 over the 20 year life of the systems created by SunEdison.

These kinds of savings would be great for our school to have, but unfortunately, it is highly unlikely that we are going to see drastic changes happen anytime soon, since most policies that try to pass through in our county take a very long time to be enacted.

Even if we cannot move towards replacing all our lights with eco-friendly lights, CHS should look into more options on how to make sure that we are not the top ranked high school in the county due to our high use of electricity.