1. Are the objective and introduction written in an engaging way? Yes No     If 'No' please explain. characters left 2. Is the difficulty level accurate? Yes No     If 'No' please explain. characters left 3. Were the materials easily obtained? Yes No     If 'No' please explain. characters left 4. Was the procedure clear? Yes No      If 'No' please explain. characters left 5. Were all safety measures included? Yes No      If 'No' please explain. characters left 6. Did you obtain clear, unambiguous results? Yes No     If 'No' please explain. characters left 7. How much time did you spend on the project? Choose One... A day or less Several days About one week A couple weeks Several weeks to months 8. How much did the project cost? Choose One... Less than $20 $20 - $50 $50 - $100 $100 - $150 $150+ Optional:  Do you have any suggestions to improve this project? characters left Optional:  Attach a picture of your project (JPG, JPEG, GIF, PNG only) Optional:  Caption for picture characters left Thank you for your feedback! * Note: This is an abbreviated project idea, without notes to start your background research or a procedure for how to do the experiment. You can identify abbreviated project ideas by the asterisk at the end of the title. If you want a project idea with full instructions, please pick one without an asterisk. Abstract In the U.S., lighting homes and businesses accounts for 22% of all electric power consumption (Raloff, 2006). That's $55 billion worth of electricity, or the output of 100 large power plants (Raloff, 2006). How much energy could be saved by switching home lighting from incandescent to more efficient fluorescent lights? Conduct a survey to find out what types of lighting are used in homes in your area. Come up with an estimate of how many light fixtures are used in an average home, what types of light source (regular incandescent, halogen, fluorescent). Do background research to find out the relative efficiency of different types of lighting. How much energy could be saved by replacing incandescent lights with more efficient alternatives? Taking into account the cost of the lamps, how much money would be saved (if any)? You might also want to look into new lighting technologies like LEDs (Raloff, 2006; NGLIA, 2005). Could future light sources offer even more savings? (Idea from Langiewicz, M.T., 2004) Bibliography Langiewicz, M.T., 2004. "How To Eliminate the Energy Crisis in California," California State Science Fair Abstract [accessed June 20, 2006] http://www.usc.edu/CSSF/History/2004/Projects/J0819.pdf. NGLIA, 2005. "Changing the Light Paradigm," Next Generation Lighting Industry Alliance [accessed June 20, 2006] http://www.nglia.org/. Raloff, J., 2006. "Illuminating Changes: Conventional Lightbulbs May Soon Be Obsolete," Science News 169(May 20): 314. Variations For more science project ideas in this area of science, see Energy & Power Project Ideas. Last edit date: 2011-10-26 19:37:46

I Did This Project! Tell us about your experience with this science project. What was the most important thing you learned? characters left What problems did you encounter? (Enter "none" if you had none.) characters left Can you suggest any improvements or ideas? (Enter "no" if you have none.) characters left How do you rate this project? Poor OK Good Very Good Excellent Optional:  Attach a picture of your project (JPG, JPEG, GIF, PNG only) Optional:  Caption for picture characters left Thank you for your feedback! Related Links Science Fair Project Guide Project Summary Difficulty  6  Time required Short (several days) Share this Project Idea! Donate to Science Buddies

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	Economist Every country has resources—people, land, raw materials, capital, and machinery—and economists study how those resources are distributed to create the goods that people buy, and the services people need or want. In their studies, economists monitor economic trends and collect data on things like energy costs, inflation, interest rates, exchange rates, business cycles, taxes, and employment levels. Based on their analysis of this data, they develop forecasts of economic activity so that businesses and governments can better plan for the future.			Energy Engineer How much energy do you think all the houses and buildings in the United States consume? It turns out they eat up 40% of all the energy that the U.S. uses in a year. The figure is high because all those houses and buildings need to be heated, cooled, lit, ventilated, and supplied with heated water and electricity to run all sorts of electrical devices, appliances, and computers. Energy efficiency engineers help reduce the energy that houses and buildings use. This saves families and businesses money, and lowers the emissions of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.
	Sustainability Specialist Are you passionate about the environment? Do you like developing and implementing new ideas? Do you enjoy talking with people about how humans impact nature? If these things are true about you, then you may be the ideal candidate for a job as a sustainability specialist. Sustainability specialists work in large and small corporations and universities to design and execute energy and resource conservation programs that reduce their employers' impact on the environment. This is a great career for people who enjoy working on teams, are socially responsible, and like to get things done!

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