Debating the Grid Unit
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Summary
The electrical grid is the biggest machine on Earth. While it is an amazing feat, it needs an upgrade and there are many factors to consider. Money and politics play a role, but so do conservation, technology, and diversification. In this activity, students research electricity, its sources, how energy grids function, how to make grids most efficient, and how to bring different types of energy generation together to diversify grids. Students debate the costs and benefits of moving to a modernized "Smart Grid."
Download the Debating the Grid Unit (Acrobat (PDF) 418kB Dec9 21)
Context for Use
Grade Level: High School
Class: AP Environmental/Earth Science
Instructional Time: 2-week (10-day) unit
Instructional Strategy: Argument-Driven Inquiry
Learning Objectives
![[creative commons]](/images/creativecommons_16.png)
Students complete activities to learn about electricity generation, conservation, and innovation. Then, they research how a smart grid might work and debate the following:
- Do we need a "Smart Grid"?
- Should the grid continue to be centralized or does it make more sense to have a local and distributed system?
- How should renewable resources be integrated?
- How should governments from the federal to the local level be involved?
CLEAN Resources Used in this Unit
- Our Energy System
- Electricity data browser
- Where does your energy come from? Analyzing your energy bill
- Generating electricity: Evaluating the sustainability of today's and tomorrow's energy sources
- Responding to Climate Change
- Efficiency: The most important thing
- Energy Lab (simulation)
- Zero-Energy Housing (modeling energy efficient design)
- The United States of Energy
- US Energy Production and Consumption
- Selecting Sites for Renewable Energy Projects
- Free Energy Data (FRED) visualization tool
- Power for Developing Countries