Mark provided a wonderful publication he's written on energy and sustainability (click here for a 2MB file)
Get ‘em involved with stuff they use everyday. Take ‘em on a tour of UO and we get credits, plus they get an intro to everyday stuff. Get a watt stopper and lend it to each of them to use around the house and measure how much juice is being used….
I suggest you offer all the students the opportunity of attending the Pierce Cedar Creek conference on Saturday Jan 22. Details available on the Pierce Cedar Creek Web site (visit www.cedarcreekinstitute.org/conferences or call (269) 721-4190), and/or through the MREP calendar of events
( www.michigan.gov/mrep ) , and then link to calendar of events from the clickable link in upper left hand side of page.
I will be publishing several papers through MREP very soon, and of course you can welcome the students to check into those. I am surprised at the recent spate of book publishing on the end of the oil era and the coming of the global climate destabilization crises. I'll be trying to add a useful bibliography to the annual MREP report. If you or one of your students wants to contribute a "top 40" of energy nerd books, that would be helpful AND the contributor will certainly gain an acknowledgment in the front of the report.
Speaking of Energy Nerd books, I purchased two boxes of RMI's 2004 edition of the Primer on Sustainable Building, which I can sell for less than retail ($16.95 plus shipping for retail; $15 including tax, with proceeds to Urban Options if I sell 'em). How many would your students like? I also have ~10 copies of Small Is Profitable on the same basis: retail $60 + 9.95 shipping from RMI, but I can sell them to students for $50, tax included.
It would probably be pedagogically very intriguing if you passed out blank sheets of paper and asked the students to generate the syllabus by writing down the questions they would like to have answered in the class! I'd be curious to see what's on their minds. Let us know how it goes.
See also www.aceee.org ,
www.eere.energy.gov ,
www.repp.org and
www.crest.org (maybe the same web
site?), www.glrea.org ,
www.the-mrea.org ,
www.awea.org ,
www.seia.org ,
www.michigan.gov/energyoffice , ... someone could be making a "top 40" web
sites for energy, too... which could be published on the Urban Options web
site, etc.
This probably isn't what you're looking for to spice up the first class--but at some point, I'd be happy to conduct my interactive greenbuilding discussion. Typically energy is just one-fifth of the discussion, but all five parts can use energy consumption as the measure of sustainability.
For the first class, how about the personal energy footprint calculation exercise?
Attached is the list of education resources and websites I have put together. Any assistance you and/or your students can provide in reviewing and categorizing the information further by grade level or type, would be greatly appreciated. As mentioned, I am interested in setting up an education section on our website and this information would be very helpful. Thanks for you interest and help.
(click here for list of resources)
Here's one website thought: www.nrel.gov/docs/fy00osti/27684.pdf This is the web version of "Clean Energy Choices" that the D.O.E. no longer has available in print. Plenty of material to dialogue about in this baby! On a more comprehensive note, here is a link to the Energy Office "Publications" site. All of this links or PDF documents should be very helpful for those seeking additional information on energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions. http://www.michigan.gov/cis/0,1607,7-154-25676_25769---,00.html
Message #2:
In terms of an "activity", here's a great one for your class: go to the NEED website at http://www.need.org . On the left, click on "Curriculum Guides & Activities". Scroll down to the section "Blueprint For Success", and underneath click on the "Secondary Poll". This is a test designed for secondary students that asks fundamental questions about the origins and uses of energy. Most adults fail this test, which partially explains why we use energy so inefficiently in this country and can not seem to pass federal legislation that comprehensively addresses a clean energy future.
If you then click on "Blueprint
for Success", page 42 features an answer
sheet for the test. As an exercise, the class could take the test at the
beginning of the course and once again at the end of the course. At the
end of the course, you could distribute the answer sheet so the students could
compare their answers from the first test compared to the second test.
This exercise is designed to emphasize the fundamentals of the "science of
energy" and the "sources of energy". Once people (K-12 students, college
students, adult learners etc.) understand the fundamentals of energy, they are
better equipped to address energy questions, challenges, and solutions. If
all goes well, the students will have answered more questions correctly at the
end of the course due to the superior leadership and energy knowledge of their
beloved instructor!
Here are a few websites that I use a lot in my work with Marty K. These websites, for the most part, deal with energy regulation and energy efficiency/renewable energy programs in the U.S.
www.michigan.gov/mpsc : MPSC - Michigan Public Service Commission
www.aceee.org - American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy
www.naruc.org : NARUC - National
Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners
www.dsireusa.org : DSIRE - Database of State Incentives for
Renewable Energy
www.eia.doe.gov : EIA - Energy Information Administration
www.ncat.org
: National Center for Appropriate Technology
www.ncat.org/liheap/index.htm : LIHEAP Clearinghouse - Low-Income
Home Energy Assistance Program
www.neaap.ncat.org/index.htm : NEAAP - National Energy
Affordability and Accessibility Project
www.raponline.org : Regulatory Assistance Project
www.cleanenergystates.org/ : Clean Energy States Alliance
www.repp.org
: Renewable Energy Policy Project
I'm sure the other people on your list will
have a PLETHORA of great ideas but let me know if I can track anything else
down for you.
Pat suggests an energy text, Energy: Its Use and the Environment She uses another book in her class: Builder's Guide to Cold Climates
She also notes that there are many excellent materials in LCC's library.