Ms. Fleury’s 11th and 12th grade science classes, as part of their energy unit, will participate in an inquiry based laboratory experiment and explore what is the efficiency of human use of non-renewable energy sources and how this impacts the environment.

Each team of students will be given three light bulbs (incandescent, CFL, and LED), a kill-a-watt meter, and a light output meter. They will use the equipment to collect data on the watts used by each light bulb and the amount of light emitted.   The students will then proceed to calculate how much total kWh is required to operate each bulb for 8 hours, 365 days per year.  Using this information, students then will calculate how much each bulb costs to operate per year using the current cost of electricity in their town per kWh.  

Using Chromebooks and internet, students will research the cost of purchasing and the lifespan of each bulb, as well as learning how each of the light bulb operates.  Then the students will proceed to calculate how many of the other bulbs and the associated cost they would need to purchase in order to equal the LED’s number of hours/number of years.  

Ultimately, the students will calculate the cost of purchase and operation of each of the bulbs for the length of time of the lifespan of one LED light bulb.  The light output meter is used to observe the light output of each bulb to see if there is a difference between each bulb.  The light output might be a concern for some costumers when purchasing the bulbs.  Students will be encouraged to share their findings with their parents in order to convince them to switch to more efficient light bulbs in their households.  

Budget needed:

Kill-a-watt meters, 4 @ $20 each = $80

Dr. Meter Digital Illuminance/Light Meter, 0-100,000 luxmeter, 4 @ $22 each = $88

60 watt incandescent light bulbs 4 for $3.00 = $3

60 watt CFL light bulbs 4 for $5 = $5

60 watt LED light bulbs 4 for $13 = $13

Basic Metal Desk Lamp with Flexible Hose Neck 4 @ $12 = $48

Miscellaneous = $33

Total: $270 for all materials

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