Energy efficiency: The musical?

We all know by now energy efficiency is incredibly important. It’s going to help us dramatically stabilize greenhouse gases. Slow the building of new power plants. Keep us warmer. Save us money.

But let’s face it. Getting – and keeping – people’s attention about the big EE is, at best, a challenge. It makes the eyes glaze over. People walk away from me at parties when I start talking weather stripping. Really.

Boys & Girls Club member Dayvone James, 14, applying weather stripping to a Charlestown front door to seal an air leak. (Aram Boghosian photo)

Now, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program – the federal energy efficiency gurus – is teaming up with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to get kids to buy into the idea before they grow up to keep every light in the house on. Some of the 60 clubs participating around the country have kids designing family energy efficiency nights, handing out CFL bulbs and even writing and producing plays about EE.

In Charlestown, five Boys & Girls Club young teens are making it exciting by teaching even younger kids. The 13 and 14 year olds recently completed an energy review of a home in their neighborhood to find energy saving opportunities that the adults among us should have learned by now: replacing incandescent lighting with compact fluorescent bulbs; using a programmable thermostat, sealing up air leaks around doors with weather stripping. They learned that electronics can continue to suck power even when they are off – and to use a power strip to truly turn off tvs and computers.

But the group is now teaching 8 and 9 year olds about what they learned and how it helps fight global warming.

When I was that young, everything was fun to learn. And we all know it stays with you, like a glowing CFL, for years to come.