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Saving energy in schools and making energy efficiency a lesson for students is fundamental in shaping a new generation of energy efficiency leaders.

Next Generation's Leaders

Nationwide, schools spend $8 billion per year on energy. To lessen the economic blow and influence the next generation of leaders, the Alliance uses a variety of educational programs to reach students.

PowerSave Schools and the PowerSave Campus Program

Through basic changes in operations, maintenance and individual behavior, PowerSave Schools has reduced energy use by 5-15% among participating schools. PowerSave Schools also encourages students to apply the lessons of energy efficiency in their homes and communities.

The PowerSave Campus Program is leading the way toward green careers and campus sustainability by growing the next generation of energy efficiency professionals.Through PowerSave Campus, students save energy on their campuses by conducting educational outreach; infusing energy conservation and efficiency into course curricula; and implementing projects targeting energy use, student purchasing decisions and operational changes.

Because even the youngest members of a household can be stewards for energy efficiency, the Alliance's mischievous Energy Hog teaches kids about ways they, and their parents, can practice energy efficiency at home.

Lesson Plan: Draft-O-Meter (K-3)

Lesson Plan: Draft O Meter (K-3)
November 23, 2011

Students learn an easy way to detect drafts in their homes and classrooms.

Linda Gregory, Urbita Elementary School, San Bernardino, CA

Essential Question: How can I identify areas of energy waste?

Overview

Objective: Students will…

  1. Learn an easy technique to measure the presence of drafts in their homes and classrooms.
  2. In a follow-up exercise, students can create draft guards (see Worm Warmers lesson).

Grade level: K – 3

Lesson Plan: Worm Wormers (K-3)

worm warmers
November 30, 2011

Students learn how to make draft guards.

Linda Gregory,Urbita Elementary School, San Bernardino, CA

Essential Question: Based on our exploration of drafts, how can we address the drafts to save energy?

Overview

Creation of draft guards to help reduce energy waste. (This lesson follows the Draft-O-Meter lesson in which drafts are detected in school and at home.)

Objective: Students follow directions to make a draft guard.

Subjects: Language Arts, Science (Earth and Physical Science)

Lesson Plan: School Energy Map (3-12)

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November 23, 2011

Students make a school energy map charting energy use in school

Adapted from the California Energy Commission

Essential questions: How can we identify easy opportunities for energy savings and act on them? What is our energy savings plan?

Overview

Students make a map of the school, chart the energy users on campus, and discuss energy use and potential ways to save.

Objective: Students will recognize the various energy users at school and infer potential energy saving actions.

Time: 50 minutes

Grouping: Four to six students

Lesson Plan: Two Basic Energy Principles (3-6)

Two Basic Energy Principles
November 18, 2011

Students will learn about the concepts of energy transformation and embedded energy in this lesson.

Adapted from the California Energy Commission

Essential Question: How is energy embedded in all of the items we use day-to-day?

Overview

Students work backwards from an item (such as a pencil or hamburger) to its components, to where those components originated and what kinds of energy were needed to make those components into the final item. Then, they will act out the flow of energy through each step from the sun to the pencil and observe what happened.

Objectives: Students will…

Lesson Plan: How Big is Your Carbon Footprint? (6-12)

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November 16, 2011

Students calculate their carbon footprint with this lesson.

David Casey, Analy High School
West Sonoma County Union High School District, California

Essential question: How can I understand my impact on the environment and our collective impact on the Earth?

Lesson Plan: E -Jobs Trading Cards (5-8)

E -Jobs Trading Cards
November 16, 2011

 E-Job Trading Cards is an activity teaching middle school students about green jobs.

Jasmine Fry, Donald Graham Elementary School
Lake Elsinore Unified School District, California

Essential questions: What types of jobs are considered green or ejobs? What type of job would I like to have? What do I need to do to get on the right track for obtaining this job? How are the different jobs essential and helpful to the environment?

Lesson Plan: Carbon Dioxide Trends (9-12)

Grades 9 -12 Green Schools lesson
November 17, 2011

This lesson teaches students in grades 9 through 12 how to graph data to examine seasonal and long-term atmospheric carbon dioxide trends over the past 45 years, as well as predict future carbon dioxide emissions.

Adapted from Facing the Future, www.facingthefuture.org.

Essential Question: How can we chart data to make it meaningful to others in order to communicate scientific concepts to non-experts?

Overview: Students graph data to examine seasonal and long-term atmospheric carbon dioxide trends over the past 45 years and then predict future carbon dioxide emissions.

Design Guide: How to Save 50% on Energy in School Buildings

An ASHRAE guide written directly for the people who design, construct and manage school buildings offers step-by-step recommendations to halve energy costs without commissioning costly, time-consuming energy analysis.

A new guide written directly for the people who design, construct and manage school buildings offers step-by-step recommendations to halve energy costs without commissioning costly, time-consuming energy analysis.

The guide recommends a variety of energy-saving practices and equipment, including energy-efficient lighting.

Campus Conservation Nationals: Competition to Slash Energy Use at US Colleges

Sign up to compete in the nation’s largest energy-use reduction contest, Campus Conservation Nationals, by Nov. 15 at CompeteToReduce.org.

Sign up to compete by Nov. 15 at CompeteToReduce.org

College students across America are poised to save thousands of dollars in energy costs in 2012 by competing in the nation’s largest energy-use reduction contest: Campus Conservation Nationals (CCN). The CCN is a national competition in which college and university dorms compete to save the most energy and water, with the cumulative goal of saving one gigawatt-hour of electricity.

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