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Auditing the Energy-Guzzlers
in Your
Home |
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In a Nutshell:
In this lesson, students become aware of the electricity sources
in their community, whether they are renewable or non-renewable,
and the amount of greenhouse gases they produce. They identify
what kinds of energy are used to heat their homes and water,
and to power appliances and other energy-using devices. By calculating
the amount of electricity used by each appliance/device in their
household, students can determine their greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions, which are mainly carbon dioxide (CO2), and then seek
ways to reduce them. |
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Goal:
To make students aware of the energy consumed at home, the resulting
GHG emissions, and how to reduce home energy use. |
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Background Learning:
Teachers should be familiar with the material found in:
High School Students should be familiar with
the material found in:
Intermediate Students should be familiar with the material found
in:
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Learning Outcomes:
Click on the icon for your territory to review the learning outcomes that are addressed by this lesson:
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Introduction to Lesson Plan:
Depending on where you live in the north, your source of electricity
will be different. If your community burns diesel to generate
electricity, then your greenhouse gas emissions per kWh will
be much higher than if your community uses a renewable resource
such as wind or hydro-electricity. Our cold climate and dependency
on diesel as an electricity source makes northerners very high
GHG emitters. Our communities need to develop energy alternatives
to diesel, and become more aware of our energy use patterns and
how reductions can be made.
The government of Canada has issued the “One Tonne Challenge,” asking
each Canadian to reduce their GHG emissions by one tonne per
year. This would represent a reduction of approximately 20% from
our current emissions, which are running at five tonnes per person.
This activity challenges students to see how they could reduce
wasteful appliance use to help meet this challenge.
Before the lesson, make sure you know how electricity is produced
in your community. (Phone your electrical utility if you don’t
know.) For more useful information on how electricity is generated
in your territory, go to http://www.climcalc.net/eng/Learn_More/energysources_1.html.
This lesson focuses primarily on household appliances and other
devices, mainly because these are easy to measure and calculate.
What is more difficult is to measure hot water use and heating – two
of the major GHG culprits. While it is more difficult to measure
the electricity used for hot water and heating, we have included
a suggestion on how to calculate those heating costs and the
GHGs produced. |
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Activity:
Part A: Understanding Home Electricity & the GHG Link
- Home Research: Ask students to:
- Make a list of all the things in their homes that
use energy. (Get students to include not only appliances,
computers, and so on,
but also the hot water heater that produces hot water
for showers and for washing clothes and dishes.)
- Find out how their homes are heated — oil, wood,
natural gas, propane, or electricity.
 Discuss the findings: Put together a class list of appliances
and devices. Discuss which of these (if any) would be powered
by renewable energy (e.g., wind, solar, or hydro) and which use
non-renewable
energy sources (such as electricity produced by burning of
diesel). Also create a list of types of energy used in heating
their homes.
Students’ homes may use appliances powered by hydro-sourced
electricity (which is renewable), but be heated by oil (which
is non-renewable).- Pose the question: What does this have to do with climate
change? In the discussion, make sure the students understand
how electricity
is produced in their community, and that burning diesel to
produce electricity means that every time you use electricity,
you are
emitting GHGs. Even if your community uses hydro electricity,
at peak times the electrical utility may supplement it with electricity
generated using diesel. The result is that your electricity
use
may increase GHG emissions.
Non-renewable sources of heat, such
as oil or coal, also add substantially to GHG emissions. Wood
heating, however, is not
considered a source
of greenhouse gases. This is because the trees that were burned
as firewood are replaced by growing trees that take carbon
dioxide back out of the atmosphere. Wood, then, is a renewable
energy source
and considered GHG neutral. (Note: Wood burning is known to
create human health problems. To reduce health problems from
burning wood,
use EPA-approved wood heaters and UL-certified chimneys. If
wood smoke is dropping below roof level, adding a section to
the chimney
may be the simplest solution.)
- Rank your list: Look at the list of appliances/devices developed
by the class. Select about 10 of the items, and invite the students
(possibly working in pairs or groups) to rank the energy-use
per hour of these appliances/devices from highest to lowest energy-use.
When they have completed this, distribute Student
Handout #1: Energy Use at Your House. Direct them to the
table entitled “How
Much Energy Used in an Hour?” and invite them to compare
this table to their ranking. Explain that some appliances, such
as hair dryers, take a lot of energy but aren’t used for
very long, while others, such as a fridge, take a lot of energy
because they cycle on and off, day and night.
Part B: Home Energy Audit
 Home
Research: Ask students to take home Student
Handout #1 and complete
the table entitled “How Many Watts? How Many
GHGs?” Go over what they need to do and the example in the
table, to make sure they understand the process. (Decide whether
you want students to complete “More Pieces of the Energy
Puzzle: Hot Water & Heating” at the bottom of the handout.
This is fairly complex, and students may need guidance.) Note:
If this doesn’t seem feasible for your students, create a
fictional family for your students: How much would they use various
appliances, and heat their house?- How We Can Reduce: Either as a class, or in small groups, go
over some of the charts. Explain the “One Tonne Challenge,” issued
by the Canadian government, asking Canadians to reduce their GHG
emissions by one tonne (20%)per year. Brainstorm ways that students
and their families could reduce energy use in their homes. (Possible
answers might include: lowering the temperature by two degrees,
turning off computers when not in use, turning off lights, hanging
out washing to dry in the summer, washing clothes with cold water,
taking shorter showers, keeping the fridge door closed, and waiting
until the dishwasher is full before running it on a short cycle.
For more suggestions on reducing energy-use, see the checklist
in Student Handout #2 (Enrichment):
Some Ways to Reduce Your Energy Use.)
- Action Report: Ask students to write a 400-800 word Energy
audit report and action plan to reduce energy use and GHG emissions
in their home. The report could focus on these questions:
- What did you learn about GHG-emitters in your home: Anything
you didn’t already know? Anything surprising?
- How could your family reduce their GHG emissions? See
the checklist in Student Handout #2 (enrichment): Some Ways to
Reduce Your Energy Use. How could you help them make some changes?
- What changes do you plan to make? Try to be as specific
as possible, and work with your family to create an energy-reduction
action-plan.
Source: Some of this activity was inspired by materials in the Passion
for Action Climate Change Challenge Student Workbook, Virescens
and GVRD. |
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Handouts:
Click on the icon for the complete set of handouts that support
this lesson:
Student Handout #1: Energy Use at Your House
Student Handout #2 (Enrichment): Some Ways to Reduce Your
Energy Use
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Student Web-Exchange:
Get students to post their written reflections on the student
exchange. Submissions should be under 800 words. Click on the
icon for information on how to post material. |
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Evaluation:
- Evaluate completed student charts (list of appliances
completed, calculations correct)
- Evaluate written reflections (thoughtfulness, ideas about
reducing)
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Enrichment Ideas:
Social Studies, Science, Mathematics
The 10% Challenge: Challenge students to figure out ways to
reduce their home electricity use by at least 10%, and to calculate
how they would do this. (Note: Students may see ways of reducing
the use of some home energy-users but not others. Encourage them
to be realistic in their estimates, and not just reduce everything
by 10%. For example, it would be difficult to reduce the electricity
used by a fridge, unless an old fridge you were prepared to replace
it with a newer, energy-efficient model.) You may want to distribute
Student Handout #2 (enrichment):
Some Ways to Reduce Your Energy Use.
Home of the Future: Students design an energy-efficient home
of the future, using energy-efficient appliances, renewable sources
of energy, more insulation, triple pane windows, etc.
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About the Author:
The author of this lesson plan was the Yukon Conservation Society
Curriculum Team. The team consists of teachers, writers, environmental
educators, scientists and curriculum specialists. We worked with
teachers across the north, helping them to create lesson plans
for this website, and gathering input about website features,
backgrounders and lesson plans that would be useful in northern
classrooms. |
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