SPARE is a platform for environmental programs of schools in Moscow and Kyrgyzstan

Authors:

Anna Yurievna Puzanova, educational organizer of environmental education at the EPI Gazprom School

Arthur Maratovich Satarkulov, physics teacher at the TEC "Erudite"

Alexandra Vladimirovna Gavrilova, student of the 10th grade at the EPI Gazprom School

Elena Yurievna Averina, Mathematics teacher of mathematics

Ruslana Midkhatovna Mukhtarova, English teacher (translation).

Gazprom School’s staff has been taking part in the activities of the SPARE educational program on climate change and energy for 2 years. In the 2019-2020 academic year, the team of the TEC "Erudite" (Bishkek, the Republic of Kyrgyzstan) joined the work.

We use SPARE's materials and recommendations in the following forms of work:

1. Separate collection of secondary raw materials and public control of disposal.

2. Environmental education.

3. Actions for forest planting in the framework of the All-Russian project “Victory Forest”.

4. Student projects.

For 11 years, the Gazprom School has been implementing the program “This is our Earth – yours and mine”, aimed at creating an ecological outlook for the entire team. Separate collection, forest planting campaigns and environmental education are integral parts of the program. The school uses the volunteer's personal book for the second year. You can get acquainted with the program here.

Let us dwell in more detail on the form of work “Student Projects”.

Environmental projects are carried out by students of all ages annually. They are dedicated to volunteering and the appropriateness of separate collection of recyclables; study of the species diversity of birds, plants and aquatic organisms; finding ways to increase crop yields and many others.

Separately, it should be said about projects dedicated to energy saving. An elementary school student devoted his work to using renewable energy sources and created a number of working models withLEGO. The project “Efficiency of energy-saving lamps” became interesting, during which an eighth-grader revealed a pattern between the types of lamps and energy consumption, as well as prepared a layout demonstrating the energy consumption when using different types of bulbs.

The projects of senior pupils at the EPI Gazprom School (Moscow) and TEC Erudite (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan) have a serious research and scientific base. So in the educational complex "Scrabble" created and tested the design of an automated room micro-greenhouse "Sprig One Mark II". It is equipped with artificial lighting systems, monitoring the duration of exposure, ventilation and automatic irrigation. At the same time, the device was made with orientation to the requirements of environmental friendliness and reduction of the carbon footprint according to the course adopted in the Republic of Kyrgyzstan for the introduction of green technologies in the economy. You can find out more about the environmental initiatives of the Erudite Educational Complex here.

Of great interest in both educational organizations is the topic of rational use of batteries. The joint project “Some aspects of the disposal of chemical current sources as a measure to reduce the carbon footprint and ensure environmental safety” was presented at the All-Russian contest “Energy and the environment” of the 2019-2020 academic year. The work is devoted to the development and testing of an algorithm for collecting used chemical current sources from the population; creating a way to reduce the amount of lithium-ion battery emissions by recycling (extending the useful life) and creating new effective devices, for example, portable batteries, based on recovered current sources.

During the testing of the project methods (2018-2019) the following quantitative results were obtained:

1. AA-size alkaline batteries ~ 970 kg have been collected and transferred to recycle.

2. Recovery of lithium-ion accumulators ~ 100000 mA • h of electric capacity were returned to duty.

3. Water resources preserved from pollution ~ 803714 m³ (calculations based on measured pollution of 400 liters of drinking water byan average chemical current source).

4. Prevented additional emissions of CO₂ ~ 600 kg (calculations based on  fact that 200 kg of carbon dioxide are emitted during processing of 1 kWh of chemical current source capacity (according to  research data of TAMU, USA).

The development of the project was the work “Determining the degree of soil pollution by spent batteries, tracking the transportation of used batteries from the collection point to the processing plant”. In the course of the work, the author found out the degree of contamination of the soil with heavy metals, provided that the used battery was in it for a year. The study was conducted on the example of three types of batteries: lithium-manganese dioxide, nickel-metal hydride and manganese-zinc with an alkaline electrolyte. In addition, with the help of the GPS tracker AutoFon Alfa-Mayak 2XL, the delivery of batteries from the receiving points of IKEA Moscow stores to the Megapolisresurs factory in Chelyabinsk was confirmed.

All projects are carried out by teams of children, teachers and, in some cases, parents who are passionate about the topic. We make all calculations using the formulas proposed by the SPARE Program. Authors actively present their works at city and federal sites. The goal that unites us all is to find and show ways to improve the environmental situation in our country.