ENERGY REDUCTION PROJECT AT ISKL.!

MAY 20 2012

Math Times
KIDS AT ISKL REDUCE ENERGY USAGE
Kids at ISKL take part in an energy reducing project with an ambitious goal.

The Plan
Thomas Sanders and his family have saved electricity over a a year long period, and has put how much he has used each month on a graph (Graph below). Thomas comments My family has had a plan that we followed most of the time, we had a habit of leaving the plugs on at the wall and not turning them o, so if we had used something like a computer charger we would go to the wall and either turn o the socket at the wall or un plug the object we were using before unplugging it from something like the computer. We also sometimes left the TV on when no one was watching, so now we always turn the TV o when we leave the room if no one was watching it. And nally we saved energy by turning the air up to 23 degrees, because it is the most environmentally friendly temperature, or just turning the air con o. We did this for a whole year to see how we had improved, over time.

The environment is being aected by people polluting the environment and wasting energy, if by doing everyday things we can reduce the amount of energy we use and the amount of pollution aecting the earth. We need to stop wasting energy because it is polluting the earth and has major consequences, such as global warming, which kills coral reefs and melts glaciers which in turn raises sea levels.- Thomas Sanders

KwH
461 460 451 445 435 433 429 421

Month August September October November December January February March 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Month#

How long will it take to reach 300 KwH

To nd the answer to the question we just use the data that we have, and this equation y=mx+b, to nd the slope of the tted line. m = change in y change in x = rise run

On the graph above it shows how successful Thomas was in reducing his energy usage, the overall slope of the line is a negative slope which shows that the energy usage decreased as time went on. The graph also shows the habits of the family through the course of the project. The data is not consistent so it varies going up and down but in the end the tted line shows a decrease in usage. The data varies for numerous reasons holidays, breaks and visitors, but the data does decrease fairly steadily.

Now we use points (1,454) and (4,438) and substitute them in the equation. 454 - 438
1 - 4 The slope of the line = - 5 1

3
Now the equation is y= -5 1 x + b 3 To nd the y intercept you nd the point on the tted line were it crosses the y axis Which for this graph is 459 KwH.

Now the equation is y= -5 1x + 459 3 Now we can nd how long it will take to reach 300KwH, which is the goal for the project. We substitute y for 300 because that is the goal the family wants to reach

reach. Then solve for x. 300= -5 1 x + 459 3 -459 -459 -159= -5 1 x 3 -5 1 -5 1 3 3 x= - 29 So based on this data it will take 29 months to get their goal of 300 KwH, or 2 years and 5 months to get their goal of 300 KwH.