Investigate energy use at school and come up with ways to reduce electricity use and combat climate change.
How can your school use less energy? Investigate how the school uses energy and come up with recommendations to reduce the impact on climate change.
Before leading the activity, decide which energy investigations to use. Five different investigations are provided for students to learn more about energy conservation behaviours and energy-efficient technologies at school:
See Notes to help you teach for more information.
The "Energy survey" can be assigned to pairs of students. They’ll ask other students and teachers questions about their energy conservation behaviour. Students may modify the questions or develop their own survey to focus on the specific energy use behaviours they’re most interested in.
The "Lighting investigation", "Computer investigation" and "Windows/doors investigation" can be assigned to small groups. Students investigate energy use behaviours and energy-efficient technologies at school at times when most people aren’t in the school (before school, recesses, after school). Assign different groups to different parts of the school to collect the data. Students may modify the investigations or create their own. School districts around the province are upgrading their lighting, computers and windows to be more energy-efficient. See this story about Citadel Middle School in Port Coquitlam going 100 percent LED.
The "Energy interview" can be assigned to a small group of students or you may invite the principal, energy manager or other facilities member to come to the class to answer the questions. A number of questions are provided. Students may ask all the questions, some of them or develop their own list of questions to ask.
Let other teachers know about the investigations and schedule them at a time to minimize interruptions to others.
Energy conservation means using less energy by changing behaviours. Students will come up with many ideas and recommendations to save energy at school. Some Power Smart tips include:
Energy-efficiency refers to technologies that help complete a task with less energy. Innovation continues to develop new and creative ways to reduce our energy use through technology.
CleanBC is a provincial plan for a cleaner, more renewable and sustainable future. The Better Buildings program focuses on making buildings more energy-efficient and offers incentives for energy-efficient products and renovations that save energy and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.