In an effort to decrease the amount of energy that the school uses, the SGA’s “Churchill Goes Green!” initiative partnered with the Montgomery Country School Energy and Recycling Team (SERT) to introduce eco-friendly lamps to CHS.  The “Churchill Goes Green!” initiative is a school-wide campaign to reduce the energy costs at CHS and promote recycling.

“The lamps contain energy and cost efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs,” SGA president Meenu Singh said.  “With the already bright glare of computer screens, computer labs are the perfect place to use these lamps instead of using bright overhead lights.”

SERT initially delivered 50 lamps to CHS and the lamps were then placed in several teachers’ classrooms, with the hopes of replacing all overhead lighting in each classroom with just eight lamps. 

The SGA was forced to remove the lamps from the classrooms upon being notified by SERT of a misunderstanding.

“The lamps were supposed to be put only in computer labs [but] we misunderstood,” SGA vice president Jamie Oppenheimer said.  “We were asked [by the SERT team] to remove the lamps from the classrooms and put them in the [computer] labs.”

By replacing the overhead lights with floor lamps, the amount of energy used in the computer labs is drastically reduced.  Each overhead lighting panel consists of about four light bulbs.  With all of the overhead lighting units in each computer lab and the amount of electricity required to power each computer, a great amount of energy is conserved.   

“The main purpose [of the lights] was to save money and using them [does] save money and it’s just a shame that all of the teachers can’t use them,” SGA sponsor Justin Ostry said.

Although there were rumors that the lights were removed due to complaints from parents, Ostry said this is false. 

“I have heard [over] 90 percent positive [feedback],” Ostry said.  “People liked it.  It creates a nice ambiance and people liked going green.” 

According to Ostry, several students complained about the lights being too dim and a few individuals complained that in the back of the classroom, the heat from the lights could be felt. 

However, Ostry said that by taking out the bulbs from overhead lights and using the floor lamps instead, classrooms still have enough light and meet MCPS restraints on lighting; the only setback to placing them throughout classrooms is a pending approval from MCPS.
“Using the lamps is our first step towards making CHS a greener, more energy-efficient school,” Singh said.