Beyond Fossil Fuels
Students can benefit from an education on renewable energy.
By Lynsey Peterson
I really like electricity! Despite the dark, bitter cold outside right now, I’m working at a computer with overhead lights on and a space heater blazing. However, the realities of dwindling fossil fuel supplies, the consequences of global warming, and worries about nuclear waste disposal make me concerned about electricity production. Happily, these concerns have led to the growth of renewable alternative energy technologies. Green energy is not only a bright spot in our economy, but it is a healthy course to take to protect our planet . This makes it an important educational topic for our students, and essential to preparation for the future.
I begin my renewable energy unit with a quick research and presentation project. I assign small groups a type of renewable energy, such as biomass, hydroelectric, methane, hydrogen fuel cells, wind, solar, geothermal, and tidal. The groups find out basic information about their type of renewable energy, including how much electrical energy it produces and some advantages and disadvantages that go along with each type. They present their findings to the class, and students take notes. Based on the information, I have students write an argument describing which type of renewable energy they think is best for our local area.
After students have a basic understanding of the types of renewable energy, we look at a few of the technologies in greater detail. Solar energy is an important source of energy for the entire planet. In fact, you can trace most energy on Earth back to the Sun. Food webs, the water cycle, and even fossil fuels owe their existence to solar energy input. While I help my students to understand the basic technology of photovoltaic cells, they are a little expensive to purchase, unless you receive grant money to acquire a class set.
One way to investigate solar energy on a shoestring budget is with solar ovens. Solar ovens use mirrored surfaces to concentrate the sun’s energy for boiling water and cooking food. This is especially important in developing countries where fuel, such as wood, is in short supply and its use is threatening ecosystems.
My students read an article about solar ovens and their use in the developing world. Then we view pictures of solar ovens on the Internet and discuss their designs. Next, we build our own solar ovens using pizza boxes. You could collect used ones, but I found that our local pizza place was willing to give us new ones. Without much help from me, students work in small groups using very basic instructions to figure out the best way to make their oven. The next day, we take the ovens outside and test them. This works best on a hot sunny day, so you may want to wait until spring to do this experiment. I give them small thermometers to put in their ovens and challenge them to compete to get the highest temperature. And since we all know that students love to learn when food is involved, I give them supplies to make S’mores or mini pizzas using English muffins. It takes a little while for the food to cook, so after we have the ovens positioned for maximum temperatures, we get out a worksheet related to renewable energy. Students of all ages love this activity - I have even had high school seniors want to take their ovens home!
There are plenty of hands on activities you can use to teach students about renewable energy. Students can build wind turbines, investigate fuel cells, and study the emerging technology, such as the development of solar-powered cars. Below are some other activities that will get your students excited about the growing field of renewable energy.
Renewable Energy Lesson Plans:
Students investigate the costs and benefits of switching their school to sustainable technology energy production. They use software called HOMER, developed by the National Renewable Energy Lab, to do the cost/ benefit analysis. They discuss and debate the results.
Students examine the relationship between energy and society. In groups, they define energy sources as renewable or conventional and do research on how each method contributes to the world's energy. They write about how the patterns of energy usage differ throughout the world. Using the Internet, they do research about the organizations that address energy policies and develop their own policy to meet the needs of different societies.
Students form expert engineering teams working for the (fictional) alternative energy consulting firm, Greenewables, Inc. Each team specializes in a form of renewable energy used to generate electrical power: passive solar, solar photovoltaic, wind power, low-impact hydropower, biomass, geothermal and hydrogen fuel cells. Teams produce poster presentations making a case for their technology, and produce an accompanying PDF document using Adobe Acrobat that summarizes the presentation.
Cooking With the Sun: Creating a Solar Oven
Students build a solar oven by submitting a design plan and materials list. They make observations and conduct simple experiments with their oven.
Building the Basic PVC Wind Turbine
Students build a wind turbine. In this alternative energy lesson, students use PVC pipes and other materials to build a wind turbine. Students can adjust the turbine to maximize power output and apply equations to determine power, voltage, and current output.
Spotlight on Photovoltaics and Fuel Cells
Students conduct Internet research to examine the pros and cons of photovoltaics and fuel cells. They watch a web simulation on fuel cells, complete a handout, and create molecular models using pipe cleaners and gum drops.