Responsible Consumption and Production Science Projects (Page 4)

Killing 'Vampires': Saving Money and Power by Turning Off Computer Peripherals

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

What do you think about killing vampires? No, no, not the kind that drink people's blood, but the kind that suck your power and money away. Equipment like televisions, computers, printers, and fax machines all use electricity to operate, of course, but do you realize that this equipment might still be sucking electricity from the wall, even when you think it's turned off? These electricity-suckers are called vampire loads. In this science project, you will investigate how much power these… Read more

Printing Power! Save the Environment, One Printer Page at a Time

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Do your parents ever get upset with you for "wasting" paper and ink from your printer? Maybe you wanted to print a comic you found online, or a whole bunch of pictures of you and your friends being goofy, or all the instructions on how to put together that really awesome LEGO® castle. But 20 pages of text and pictures later, your mom or dad is yelling at you. Why do they even care how much you print? And why do people say it is a "waste" of paper? Try this printer-saving science project to… Read more

Feel Free to Sleep at School... If You're a Computer!

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Sleeping in class isn't allowed... unless you're a computer! In fact, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suggests that putting your school's computers to sleep when they're not in use might reduce a school's energy bill significantly. In a study done at the North Thurston public schools in Olympia, Washington, EPA officials worked with the district to cut computer energy and costs by approximately $45,000 annually! How? By implementing a variety of power-management strategies for the… Read more

A Bright Idea for Saving Energy

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

In the United States, lighting for homes accounts for about 14% of all residential electricity usage (EIA, 2014). That's billions of dollars worth of electricity per year. The U.S. has passed legislation to phase out older, more inefficient incandescent light bulbs, and they are being replaced with newer, more-efficient bulb types like compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) or light-emitting diodes (LEDs). How much energy (measured in kilowatt-hours [kWh]) and how much money could be saved by… Read more

Alternative Sources for Paper Fiber

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

If you're interested in arts and crafts, you might like this project. It uses several alternative, renewable sources of fiber to make paper, and compares the resulting papers for strength and writing quality. Read more

Biodegradable Plastics

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Plastics are made of polymers, chemical structures containing many repeated subunits. How does the polymer type of a plastic affect the biodegradability of the plastic? Do research on how plastic is made and what types of polymers are used for making different plastics. Can you learn to make your own plastic? What materials can you use for making plastic that is biodegradable? Test biodegradability by burying plastic samples for different lengths of time. (Kadar, 2004) Reducing solid waste and… Read more

Can Mulch Reduce Garden Water Requirements?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Divide a part of your garden into two equal plots, with each plot receiving equal amounts of sun. Cover one plot with two inches of organic mulch, such as compost or ground bark. Leave the other plot uncovered. Use the same amount of water for each plot for two or three weeks. At the beginning of the experiment, and at one-week intervals, dig down and check the soil in each plot for moisture content. Which plot holds water better? Which plot shows better plant growth? (McCausland, 2006) Read more

Can the Color of Your House Reduce Your Energy Footprint?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Did you know that the color of your house could save money? Do this experiment to see which colors regulate temperature best in different environments. Then convince your parents to paint the house and save some money on their energy bill. Maybe they will be so happy they will also increase your allowance! Read more

Ecological Footprint Analysis

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

The sustainability of our planet's resources ultimately depends upon our actions as citizens. How much we drive, what we eat, whether we have pets, and whether we recycle are all individual actions that affect the sustainability of the Earth's resources. Learn how ecological footprinting works and figure out how big your footprint is. How big is your family's footprint? Your school? A local business? Can you propose ways to increase or decrease the size of your ecological footprint? Develop… Read more

Energy Savings with LED Lighting

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Global warming, climate change, melting ice caps—these are all big events that have an impact our environment. What can we do to help reduce the impact? We can reduce, reuse, and recycle. What can cities do to help? Cities can eliminate waste by saving energy. Cities around the world are switching from incandescent traffic signals to LED traffic signals to save energy and money. That's because LEDs are more efficient than incandescent lamps, which means that LEDs produce more light… Read more

Responsible Consumption and Production Science Projects (69 results)

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