CASEY GARRISON, South Korea - Do you leave the tap turned on while brushing your teeth or while taking a shower every morning' If so, Dewey McLean, energy manager for U.S. Army Garrison Red Cloud's Directorate of Public Works, wants to break you of that bad habit and he has a plan to do it. He's talking to children.
McLean took that message and many more to students at Casey Elementary School Nov. 11. He spent the day talking to 1st through 8th grade students about how they can conserve energy.
"We use energy everyday and it makes our life easier, but we don't appreciate it (and) waste energy at the same time," McLean said following a series of presentations to the students. "The energy we are using is not free and they are not permanent to use, so I want to let them know about that and teach them how to save energy."
Renewable resources are natural resources that cannot be produced, grown, generated or used on a scale which can sustain its consumption rate. Fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas, oil and nuclear power (uranium) take thousands of years to form naturally.
By contrast, natural resources, aka renewable resources, are replaced by natural processes given a reasonable amount of time. Soil, water, forests, plants and animals are all renewable as long as they are properly conserved. Solar, wind, wave, and geothermal energies are based on renewable resources.
However, water, wind, geothermal heat and radiant energy are practically infinite and cannot be easily depleted. While the technologies offer much promise they are still being researched and haven't been fully implemented.
McLean said education is the key to energy conservation and that children need to have that information so they can make a difference.
"I feel guilty about what I was doing in the past," said Mary Elizabeth Shaw, a 5th grader. "I'm going to turn off the tap, television and lights when I don't use them from now on. I enjoyed this class and it was very informative."
Isaian Lamar Lewis, a 5th grader, said he intends to change his bad habits and he's going to talk to others about energy conservation.
"I enjoyed this class and I'm going to tell my parents to save energy," he said.
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