Chevy Chase Elementary School

Alternative Energy

Essential Question:

What is alternative energy and why use it?

You will be looking into different forms of energy:

• Wind
• Solar
• Biomass
• Hydroelectric
• Geothermal
• Hydrogen (Fuel cells)

Prompt:

You are in a group of scientists for a large energy company. Your boss is trying to decide what form of energy the company should focus on producing in the upcoming years. He has asked for your team’s help in gathering information on a specific form of alternative energy. The report should include three informative paragraphs.

First paragraph:

• Catchy hook
• A thorough description of the energy form that you researched (include science vocabulary and how your energy type is created and consumed)

Second paragraph:

• Advantages of using this form of energy (you should be able to find at least three and use transitions between them)

Third paragraph:

• Disadvantages of using this form of energy (you should have at least two and use transitions between them)

Thoughtful conclusion

Links

• http://www.eere.energy.gov/ U.S. Department of Energy, information on renewable energy
• http://www.nrel.gov/ National Renewable Energy Laboratory
• http://www.fsec.ucf.edu/ Florida Solar Energy Center
• http://www.nrel.gov/learning

What is renewable energy?

• http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/ NOAA National Climatic Data Center
• http://geothermal.marin.org/ Geothermal Education Office
• http://www.solarcooking.org/ Solar Cooking
• http://www.aboutnuclear.com/view.cgi?fC=Electricity American nuclear society: generation of electricity
• http://www.eere.energy.gov/solar_decathlon/ Solar Decathlon
• http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/ Energy Kids page from the Energy Information Administration
• http://www.powerhousekids.com/ Alliant energy Kids
• http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/ Links for Renewable energy sources. Links compiled by Jackie Miers Magill Primary School, South Australia