Jun 1, 2017 By Harry Funk 4 min read

Think of all the times you’ve walked past a light that’s on for no reason, and you’re in too much of a hurry to turn it off.

You know that wastes money. But who’s to say how much?

The answer: advanced placement environmental geoscience students at Mt. Lebanon High School.

About 200 students in the classes of Mike Gullo, Rolf Briegel and Vince Scalzo worked on a project in which they visited some 40 local residences, in groups of four or five, to conduct small-scale energy audits.

“Basically, it’s looking for air leaks and evaluating electrical appliances, to see where the weaknesses are,” Gullo said. “After they run the energy audit on the structure, they come back to the classroom and research ways they can improve.”

The students then gave formal presentations to homeowners regarding the findings, with energy-saving recommendations, within reason.

“You don’t want to go to a homeowner and say, ‘I see you need 20 new windows at $300 a pop,'” Gullo explained.

A change for the better could be as simple as swapping the familiar incandescent bulbs for more efficient light-emitting diode or compact fluorescent lighting. And of course, everyone can save money by making sure that devices with standby power, or “vampire draw,” aren’t running constantly.

The energy audits started in 2010 by partnering with Mt. Lebanon businesses, and this year the focus turned toward homes.

“In my eyes, this project allows the students to use what I teach them in class in real-life situations, and it allows them to develop a connection within the community and really helps them give back to the community,” Gullo said.

Student Dylan Marfisi agreed.

“I treated this as more than just a school project to get a grade,” he said. “This was a way to help someone else’s life.”

He and the four other juniors in his group discussed their experiences with the project.

“I never did anything with energy or trying to conserve it,” Mark Linkowski admitted. But as soon as I started taking this class, I started caring and started implement things that I was doing in class to help the world.”

Glenn Wallace spoke about conducting an audit in his family’s home.

“My own parents said that they had no idea how many light bulbs they even had in their house and what inefficiencies were there,” he said, as probably is the case with a majority of Americans: “They don’t realize because it’s just the way they’ve been living for so long.”

One component of the project was for students to embark on a relevant lifestyle change. Dylan, for example, gave up eating red meat.

“A quarter-pound hamburger takes approximately 650 gallons of water. That’s because they need to put a lot of water into grain to feed the cows,” he explained. “And cows should not even be eating grain. They should be eating grass. But the grain fattens them up.”

Spencer Byham-Carson said he also has cut back on his intake of meat.

“I’ve been turning off more lights in my house,” he said. “Last night, I turned off the lights in the laundry room as I was walking by and thought: Saving coal. Saving energy. Saving the world.”

Benjamin Schneck decided to reduce the time he spends in the shower, conserving a substantial amount of water.

“That influenced my parents to cut back, and then my siblings, who are carrying that on to college,” he said. “So it definitely spreads really quickly and it helps out everywhere.”

The project has been helpful for participating residents, according to Gullo.

“I received many emails from the homeowners immediately after the formal presentations saying what a wonderful job those kids did, and how they’re excited to implement the changes that the kids researched,” he said. “They really did a great job.”