Our reliance on unclean energy to fuel our lives means that climate change is speeding up and millions suffer from unnecessary health conditions. But it’s not only about switching to clean and renewable energy, over one billion people don’t have electricity in the first place.

Instructions:

Divide the group into two teams.

Each in the team is given the name of a type of renewable energy:

• Solar energy
• Wind energy
• Hydro power
• Biomass
• Geothermal energy
• Tidal energy
• Water turbine energy

Depending on the size of the group, team members can have more than one type of energy each or create more than two teams.

The teams face each other with the neckerchief (or item) in the middle.

When the leader calls one of the types of energy, the participant who is that energy runs into the middle to try to collect the item and run back to their team. If they get back to their team they win a point, but if the player from the other team tags them before they get back, they other team get a point.

As the game goes on, the leader can call the names by saying phrases like:

• All the energy that needs water
• The energy that needs a star to work
• Fire is part of this energy

Debrief:

• Which energy do you think is the best for your area?
• Do you use one (or more) of them in you daily life?

Instructions:

There are five main categories of Clean Energy.

• Solar energy: Energy from solar radiation. It only works when there is sun, but it can be used as an individual source of energy in your home and on a bigger scale
• Wind power: Uses the kinetic energy of the wind. It makes electricity when it’s coupled with a generator. It only works when there is enough wind
• Hydroelectric energy: this category groups together all types of energy that uses water as sources of energy. It is used for large scale production
• Biomass: it’s an organic matter origin energy. The most common type is the burning of wood. Biomass can only be considered as a renewable energy source if its regeneration is higher than its consumption
• Geothermal energy: the extraction of energy from the earths crust. It is one of the only types of energy that is not weather dependant

Through these scientific experiments, the participants are going to discover each one of the 5 categories. If you have enough leaders and materials, divide the group into 5 teams and have each group try each experiment.  Alternatively, do the experiments one by one as a group.

We recommend starting with the Sun experiment as some time is required to see the results.

Sun Power:

Materials: water, bowl, black paint, mirror, can of soda, thermometer

Instructions:

• Ask the group to create the best method to make the water hot
• The “better” method is to paint the can black and put the mirror above it
• Take the temperature of the water at the beginning and ask them to check on it every 30 minutes

Geothermal Energy:

Material: chalk (red if possible; you’ll need about 1/8 = 5 grames); 100 ml sunflower oil; flat-heat candle; clear glass container; tripod

Instructions:

• Grind the red chalk to a powder and add it to 20 ml of sunflower oil
• Carefully pour this coloured oil into the bottom of your container
• gently pour the rest of the oil along the wall of the container
• let it sit until both the oils are settled, with the coloured oil underneath the natural oil
• Put the container on the tripod and light the candle underneath

Video

Biomass:

Material: glass bottle, plant matter eg. leaves, vegetable peeling, source of heat (radiator or sun)

Instructions:

• Fill the glass bottle halfway with moist plant matter from the garden
• Seal the bottle
• Place the bottle near a source of gentle heat (sun, radiator) and let it ferment
• After 5 to 7 days, open the bottle, taking care to keep it away from any flame or heat source and not to point the bottle towards anyone’s face
• When opening the bottle, you will hear a slight hissing sound and a foul odour will be released: the organic matter has fermented and biogas under pressure has formed!
• Repeat the experiment with other kinds of biomass, such as leftovers from dinner

Hydroelectric Energy:

Material: plastic bottle, straw (3 short pieces), water, bowl, string, modelling clay, somewhere to hang the bottle

Instructions:

• Make 3 holes in the bottom of the plastic bottle
• Put the half straw in each hole
• Seal well to make it watertight
• Hang the bottle above the bowl
• Put some water in the bottle
• Watch what happens!

Video

Wind Power

Material: a balloon, old CD, a bottle cap, Table or flat surface

Instructions:

• Take the bottle cap and make some small holes in it
• Glue that cap to the CD
• Inflate the balloon
• Put the balloon on the cap
• Put the disc and the balloon on the ground. The air from the balloon must escape under the disc (between the disc and the ground)
• The hovercraft moves smoothly until the balloon is completely deflated

Video

Instructions:

In small groups, give participants the task of coming up with 3 actions they could do to reduce their energy consumption.

Have each group should present their ideas, and as a group choose the ones that they think are achievable.

Create a diagram for each idea and display them on the wall or together on a big poster.

Each participant chooses one or two actions to focus on until the next meeting and places their name beside that goals image.

At the next meeting, have participants discuss whether they were successful or not. If they think that action is now part of their daily routine, they can pick a new one for the next week, or they can try again with the same task.  Continue until everyone has successfully completed all the actions.

Instructions:

Have participants work together to create a check list of actions they could take to reduce the energy they waste.

For example: not turning on the light until it’s dark, putting on another layer of clothing instead of turning up the heating, checking and sealing any drafts.

Once participants have created their checklist, they can use it to check their home and make changes based on it. They can talk with their parents to see if their actions have any impact on the amount of energy being used in their home.