Eighth grader Evann Jones hadn't known that electrical energy came from coal. Classmate Alex Phillips didn't realize how much energy could be saved just by turning off a computer when not in use.

Jones and Phillips were among kids who last month finished an energy survey at their school. They're all students at Brittany Woods Middle School in University City.

The survey was called a School Energy Efficiency Development (SEED) project.

The kid-conducted project parallels a similar study of UCity schools by a professional company. Both studies seek to measure energy efficiency in school buildings and systems.

The studies also include a survey of personal "comfort levels" in the schools. And both studies were supposed to make recommendations on better energy use.

Evann Jones said she found studying the way electricity was created by burning coal "very interesting." One part of the SEED project helped kids understand how raw materials are converted into energy for lighting and heat.

Evann was on an audit team that checked each room for waste of heat and energy. She and others used a "flicker checker" to test efficiency of classroom lighting fixtures.

They also had a "draft checker" to measure air leakage around windows. The "draft checker" wasn't exactly high-tech. It was a ruler with a Kleenex tacked to the edge. If the window leaked air, the Kleenex would flutter.

Alex Phillips said "draft checkers" worked well and most school windows were airtight.

Phillips said he was surprised "by how much energy could be saved if you just turn things off after using them." He said, even before the study, he usually turned off lights at home when leaving a room.

But, he said the report confirmed that energy loss by lights and computers is "extreme."

Rebecca Eissenberg and Robert Johnson were on the team that checked out the school's boiler room. That's where the furnace and boiler create heat to warm the classrooms.

Robert said, for him, the boiler room visit was the most interesting part of the study. "I'd never seen a boiler room before," he said. And he hadn't known there was a big heating-pipe tunnel under the school.

"It's big enough to walk in except that it's so hot with all the heating pipes," he said.

Rebecca said the final SEED report indicated their school wasn't very energy efficient. While windows were fairly airtight, the outside doors of the school let out a lot of heat.

She also said she'd like to do another study in the summer. That would check energy efficiency in hot weather.

Another of the students, Erin Horth, said many teachers didn't recognize the energy savings if classroom window shades were used properly. "Teachers who keep the shades up all the time or down all the time defeat the purpose of the shades," she said.

She said window shades should be up on sunny days so artificial indoor lighting won't be needed as much.

Bill Berlin was on a study team that checked the utility bills at the school. He said he was surprised the bills seemed to be higher in the summer when fewer students were in class.

He said the "bill monitoring" team didn't find out what caused that situation.

Eighth grade advanced science students did the classroom energy inventory and studied energy costs. They also learned how the energy systems worked with the boiler-room tour.

The final part of the SEED study was done by seventh graders. They were students from the Brittany Woods' Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS) program.

These kids talked to all teachers to find out the "comfort level" in their rooms. The students also checked on "hot" or "cold" spots in each room.

At the end of the SEED study, kids reported to the school principal and representatives of the school district. They also will give reports during the UCity's all-school Celebration of Learning in March.

If you'd like to learn about energy and conservation programs such as SEED, ask your teacher to contact Glenda Abney. She's the program manager of the Gateway Center for Resource Efficiency. That's a department of the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Her number is (314) 577-0288. Her e-mail address is glenda.abney@mobot.org.