SCS Idle Free Schools

March 02, 2018

SCS Idle Free Schools is an idling reduction campaign for schools to reduce student exposure to toxic vehicle exhaust. This a student-run science or community involvement project, providing students with the opportunity to learn how to run a public service campaign while advocating for a cleaner, greener environment. We partnered with the Shelby County Health Department Air Pollution Control. Supervisor, Sonia Owens came and shared with the Idle Free team to educate them about the air quality initiatives that her office is providing throughout our city and county. STEM Instructor, Dr. Angela Shepherd and Principal Stephanie Beach served as the Idle Free team sponsors assembling the team for training and helping facilitate the project to success.

22

Students attended

5

Staff attended

1

Additional Volunteer attended

500

Students will be impacted this year

Intended impact of project

Reduced environmental impact
Improved occupant health & performance
Increased environmental & sustainability literacy

Impact of project

Improved student/staff health and wellness
Energy and/or water conservation
Financial savings
Environmental restoration
Improved environmental & sustainability literacy

More impact of project

The students' project was successful as they tracked the air emissions around the school car rider lane using a Personal Air Monitoring device (PAM) provided by AQ Treks http://www.aqtreks.com/index.html prior to and post of their Idle Free campaign. They tracked a slight reduction in the number of idling cars from 8 cars down to 5. Additionally they observed a reduction in the Carbon Monoxide and Carbon Dioxide levels.

The pre-observation levels were: Carbon Monoxide= 0.80 ppm Carbon dioxide= 2377 ppm.
The post-observation levels were: Carbon Monoxide= 0.21 ppm Carbon dioxide= 491 ppm.
This presented a reduction in emissions levels of 0.59 ppm Carbon Monoxide and 1,886 ppm Carbon Dioxide.

The students will continue their "Getting the Word Out" events to encourage the car-rider parents to "Turn the Key to Be Idle Free".