As part of the Environmental Council in my school, ISM, I took a lead in hosting a seminar on energy. I invited two guest speakers from World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Asian Development Bank (ADB). Our main area of focus in this seminar was to learn and discuss about ways to conserve and save energy.

In the introduction of the seminar, we played a word association game, in which we were assigned to think of words that were associated with energy. We simply wanted to see what "energy" meant to students and how students had little, common knowledge about energy. The purpose of this was to reflect how our thoughts towards energy have been broadened after attending the seminar.

During the seminar, I felt that the two guest speakers provided practical, innovate solutions and ways to save energy. Yes, saving electricity by shutting off lights when not using is definitely a pragmatic way to conserve energy however, this is a common practice that many people are aware about, but sometimes become negligent to follow and act upon this practice.

However, the two speakers provided an innovative ways to conserve energy that WWF and ADB have been adhering to and acting upon for the past few decades. These are the following innovative solutions to conserve energy:

1.     In library, ADB has installed parabolic mirrors to reflect off sunlight coming from outside through windows. Thus, ADB can reduce the use of lights and electricity in the library, which is a big leap towards saving energy.

2.     ADB has been shredding papers and recycling these shredded papers.

3.     ADB has implemented solar panels, a renewable energy source, to lessen the use of electricity.

4.     ADB has installed a rain water system. Instead of using water from garden hose, ADB has been using rain water to water the plants and grass.

5.     ADB is also aiming to increase the use of hybrid electric cars because hybrid electric cars can lessen the amount of carbon dioxide released.

6.     WWF has suggested students to use solar chargers to charge their phones, instead of using electricity. This in turn can save huge amount of energy.

7.     WWF has also proposed a solution that when we are not watching TV or using any electric appliances, we can simply just pull out the plugs. Leaving the plugs plugged in can produce huge amount of carbon dioxide.

8.     WWF has also introduced many short, yet meaningful slogans that guide us with ways to conserve energy, such as "advocate", "participate", "engage", and "inform".

a.     Advocate in the practice of conserving energy.

b.     Participate and engage in using less electricity. For example, participate in "Earth Hour 2014", which is on Saturday March 29, 8:30 P.M. to 9:30 P.M. Participants can turn off lights when they do not need them.

c.      Inform and spread awareness of the importance of conserving energy. Share our thoughts about how energy is crucial and hugely impact our lives.

Hopefully, these solutions to conserving energy motivate every one of you reading this report. Get inspired! Adopt these practices and act upon them! Think of your own innovative ways to conserve energy!