Energy Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow Sampler

e Energy Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow Activities Inside: • Energy Time Capsule • NEED’s Energy Timeline

• Trend Alert! Graphing Energy Use Today • Saving the Future Bingo

Grade Levels:

Elem

Elementary

Intermediate

Secondary

Subject Areas: Science

Social Studies

Language Arts

Math

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Teacher Information

&Background At the NEED Project, we’re big fans of Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis’s Back to the Future movies. We love the creative ways they use energy, from Mr. Fusion powering the time circuits and flux capacitor in the flying DeLorean, to Dr. Brown’s chemically treated logs, that burn hotter and longer, so he doesn’t have to stoke the fire at night in the Old West. The imaginative technologies are great, too, from a steam powered refrigerator making ice cubes in 1885, to flying taxis and power shoelaces in the future.

In 2020, NEED is celebrating its 40th year, and it’s got us thinking about energy past, present, and future. So, with a nod to Doc Brown, Marty McFly, and the DeLorean traveling through time, we’re exploring the past, present, and future use of energy in America. The aim of this sampler is to get students thinking about the sources of energy we use and how we use them, how we consume energy as a nation, and how those trends have changed over time. By studying this information, students will understand that personal choices in how they use energy today will have an impact on their future.

The first three lessons in this sampler guide students in analyzing how we consumed energy in the past and how we consume energy sources today. Each lesson takes a different approach, and uses a variety of language arts, social studies, and math skills.

Energy Time Capsule uses some imagination. After finding a time capsule hidden in the classroom, students read an interview with people who lived over a century ago to learn about life before electricity. They compare energy use in homes then and now, and how technology use has changed over the years for communication, entertainment, and doing household chores. Finally, students write letters sharing how their lives today differ from life in the past. The letters are put back in the time capsule, to educate students in the future.

In the second lesson, NEED’s Energy Timeline, students will focus on the recent developments of one energy source. Information comes from NEED’s own Energy Timeline, which was specially created to celebrate The NEED Project’s 40th anniversary. Students will use this resource to create an event timeline and describe how using the energy source selected has changed over the past forty years.

Trend Alert! Graphing Energy Use Today involves graphing and analyzing data. Students use a circle graph to review the energy sources we use today, and a bar graph to see how much energy we consume today from different sources. Finally, students plot points on a line graph to show how energy consumption has changed over time. Discussion questions are provided to explore and explain the trends students see on each of the graphs.

As students progress through the sampler, gaining a better understanding of how we used energy in the past and how we’re using it today, we want them to thoughtfully consider how that consumption impacts the future. It’s not enough to just hope for a better future, each of us must be an active participant in making a difference. The final lesson, Saving the Future Bingo, focuses on energy conservation and specific behaviors and actions that students and their families can do today. This isn’t your average Bingo game, though! During the activity, students share ways they practice energy conservation at home and also learn how specific energy conserving behaviors and actions save energy. Since every choice we make matters, by conserving energy today, we are helping make the future a better place.

Time to go back to the future, energy time travelers!

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©2020 The NEED Project

Energy Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow www.NEED.org

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MATERIALS

The table below contains a list of materials needed to complete the activities in this suite. Many of the materials can be easily procured from a grocery, craft, or home improvement store. Refer to the activity instructions for more specifics about each item. Contact NEED if you have any questions or difficulty locating a certain item.

ACTIVITY

MATERIALS NEEDED

Energy Time Capsule

Suggested

items to create a time capsule prop: shoe box or recycled food container, foil, tape, marker Highlighters

NEED’s Energy Timeline

Devices

with internet access for each student

Trend Alert! Graphing Energy Use Today

Graph

paper Colored

pencils

Saving the Future Bingo

Class

set of names on popsicle sticks or clothes pins (optional) Prizes

(optional)

©2020 The NEED Project

Energy Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow www.NEED.org

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Energy Time Capsule

The activities featured in this lesson are adapted from and extensions of Yesterday in Energy - a cooperative learning activity where students research how people used energy over 100 years ago to share what they have learned about the past and how things are different today. Yesterday in Energy is available to download at shop.NEED.org.

Grade Levels Elementary,

grades 3-5 Intermediate,

grades 6-8

 Time 1-2

class periods, depending on the activities selected

Background In the Back to the Future movies, teenager Marty McFly jumps into a DeLorean and accidentally travels back to 1955, where he meets his own parents. Later, he travels back to 1885, meeting more of his ancestors, while experiencing life in the “Old West.” Marty’s time traveling gives him a unique opportunity - to experience life in other generations, firsthand. Imagine taking students on a field trip back in time to chat with their great-grandparents or great-great-grandparents, born in the early 20th century! What if they could interview these ancestors, who grew up in the era before electricity, to discuss how life then differs from today’s high tech, digital world?

Without the time traveling DeLorean, we’ll need to rely on imagination and Marty’s fictional history project - a time capsule from 1985 (the year Marty first went back in time). Inside the time capsule is an interview with the Hatfields, who lived more than one hundred years ago. The interview shares information about life in the city and countryside in a time before modern conveniences were available. Students will use this information to focus on how energy was used in homes then compared to now, and how using technologies for communication, entertainment, and doing household chores has changed over time.

Objectives Students

will be able to describe how life in the United States today is much different than it was 100 years ago.

Students

will be able to describe how energy sources and energy use have changed considerably in the last 100 years.

Students

will be able to describe how technology has made enormous advances in the last 100 years.

Materials AT EACH CENTER Time

capsule prop - shoe box or recycled food container, foil, tape, marker Copies

of handouts, as needed Highlighter

per student

Preparation Gather

materials and make the photocopies you plan to use.

Make

a simple time capsule prop – an old suitcase, a shoe box, or a food container wrapped in foil.

Label the prop: “Do Not Open Until 2020” (or your current year).

Put Marty McFly’s Letter and The Dark Ages-Life Before Electricity scripts inside the time capsule prop. If you want, add a few other 1980s items to the time capsule as if Marty included some of his personal belongings (e.g. a cassette tape).

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

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©2020 The NEED Project

Energy Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

www.NEED.org

Procedure 1. Let students know you found a time capsule hidden in the classroom. Make a big production of opening the time capsule prop and pulling out the papers. Read out loud Marty McFly’s Letter “found” inside.

2. Pass out copies of The Dark Ages-Life Before Electricity script. Have students perform the script or read together. While reading, have students underline things that are different from life today. For example, in the script, Joe says, “we had kerosene lamps.” Students should underline “kerosene lamps.”

3. Facilitate a class discussion, focusing on: differences

in daily life then compared to now. different

energy sources available then and now. different

ways energy was used then compared to now. differences

between urban and rural uses both then and now.

4. Complete At Home - Then and Now. Discuss as a class.

5. Complete Technology Use - Then and Now. Have students share some of their examples. Discuss how technology has changed over the years. Do students feel technology advances are beneficial or not?

6. Complete Dear Marty. Gather students’ letters and put them into the time capsule. Add a new sign that says, “Do not open until 2050.”

Extensions Have

a Time Travelers’ Debate over this question: Which do you think was the more important invention for America - electricity or the automobile? Or, have students write an essay, or record a video sharing their opinions.

As a class, make a real energy time capsule for students to open in the future. Cut out pictures of technology items from catalogs or print from the internet, and glue onto a poster representing students’ favorite energy consuming devices. Incorporate any physical items and descriptions as well. Insert a class photo and letters from students describing how they use and save energy at home and school.

©2020 The NEED Project

Energy Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow www.NEED.org

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e Marty McFly’s Letter Dear Students at _____________________________ ,

February 2, 1985

Since you’re reading this letter, it must be the year 2020 and you’ve found my hidden time capsule. This is heavy!

I’m Marty McFly. I went to school here in 1985. I’m writing this letter for my history project, probably sitting in the same seat you’re in now. My principal, Mr. Strickland, keeps saying how hard life was in the past, and how us kids don’t appreciate how great we have it today. Little does he know, I recently time traveled to 1885! Believe me, I know firsthand how tough life was in the Old West! But, that’s a story for another time...

Since kids in the year 2020 are riding in flying cars, eating rehydrated pizza, and have robots for teachers – you have no idea what life was like for people who lived before modern conveniences. To teach you about life in the past, I interviewed my neighbors, the Hatfields. They grew up without electricity! I think you’ll learn a lot from them.

I’m putting this interview in a time capsule for safe keeping. When you open it in the future, read the interview. Then, write me back, and explain how life in the past compares to your life in 2020. Put your letters back in the time capsule and hide it again for kids to find in the future. How about the year 2050?

Thanks for helping me with my history project!

Your friend in time, Marty McFly

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©2020 The NEED Project

Energy Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

www.NEED.org

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The Dark Ages — Life Before Electricity

MARTY: Hi Mr. and Mrs. Hatfield. Thanks for helping me with my history project. I want to teach kids in the future about life in the past, so I’m going to put this interview in a time capsule that can’t be opened until the year 2020.

JOE: How exciting! We’re talking to students 35 years in the future.

MARTY: This is heavy.

SELMA: We’re happy to help you out Marty. What do you want to know?

MARTY: When and where were you born?

JOE: I was born in 1910, in West Virginia.

SELMA: And I was born in 1912 in New York City.

MARTY: What was it like growing up without electricity?

SELMA: Think about the last time your power went out. It was dark. You couldn’t watch TV, listen to that noise you call music, or play those video games. You couldn’t cook anything, and the food in your freezer started to thaw. Suddenly, all your electric appliances were useless.

JOE: Yep, that’s what it was like before electricity.

MARTY: Wow, what a bummer. How did you see at night if you didn’t have electric lights?

JOE: Oh, we had kerosene lamps. Those darn lamps were hard to light and even harder to keep lit. And they sure didn’t give off much light.

It was tough doing homework with all ten of us kids huddled around one lamp.

SELMA: Kerosene lamps were dirty, too. My mother hated to clean them. I remember the day we got electric lights. Momma threw all her kerosene lamps out the window of our apartment building. And wouldn’t you know, one of the lamps hit a policeman right on the top of his head. He was okay, but we never did let Momma forget about her run-in with the law.

MARTY: When did you first get electricity?

SELMA: It wasn’t until 1920 when I was eight years old. We thought electricity was magic. My sisters and I would run from room to room turning on all the lights in the house. My father wasn’t too happy when he got his first electric bill.

JOE: My family didn’t get electricity until 1945.

MARTY: Why so late?

JOE: I’m from a coal mining town. We just couldn’t afford it. I had an uncle who was a farmer, and he didn’t get electricity until 1949.

SELMA: Electricity sure made our lives easier.

MARTY: Why do you say that?

SELMA: Electricity meant an end to ice boxes, wood stoves, and hand washing your clothes.

JOE: That’s right. I can still picture Momma bent over a hot stove shoving one piece of wood after another into the firebox. Every morning before school, I had to chop enough wood to keep the fire going all day. And that old stove sure used a lot of wood. But I’m not complaining. I got off easy.

MARTY: What do you mean?

SELMA: He means the kitchen would get extremely hot and filled with smoke every time you used the wood stove. It was like cooking in Hell’s kitchen.

JOE: Especially in the summer when the canning was done. My poor momma would spend all day canning in this little room with a tin roof. The fire in the stove had to be kept roaring hot so that the water would boil. Between the sun beating down on the roof and the heat from the stove, I don’t know how she managed.

©2020 The NEED Project

Energy Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

www.NEED.org

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The Dark Ages — Life Before Electricity

SELMA: Don’t forget the ash box. It had to be emptied twice a day. No matter how careful you were, ashes would fly everywhere when you pulled the ash box out from under the stove.

MARTY: What about refrigeration? How did you keep your food cold?

SELMA: We had an ice box. The iceman would come around every day with his wagon, and we would buy a 100 pound block of ice from him. Boy, did he hate carrying that ice up to our 4th floor apartment. When it got really hot in the summer, I would chip a piece of ice off the block and rub it over my arms and legs. You see, we didn’t have air conditioning back then.

MARTY: Did you have heat?

SELMA: Of course! Living conditions may not have been what they are today, but they weren’t barbaric. Our house was heated by a coal furnace. The same man who delivered our ice also delivered coal. He would dump coal down the chute into our cellar coal bin. I remember how Frank Lewis and his friends used to steal coal. Frank would go down a neighbor’s coal chute and fill several bags with coal. The other fellas would wait at the top to pull up the bags. If the furnace man happened to come by, all the fellas would run. Poor Frank would be stuck down in the coal bin.

MARTY: How did the coal furnaces work?

SELMA: We would load coal into the furnace every morning to burn it, and we’d add more throughout the day. At the end of the day, we would empty the ashes from the furnace into an ash can. In those days, ash cans were more common than garbage cans.

MARTY: Did you have running water?

JOE: Sure, we had running water—I would grab two buckets and run with them from the well to the house. That was our running water.

And I sure did a lot of running on wash day. I had to fill three 20-gallon washtubs and a huge vat that was suspended over a fire. In a family of coal miners, you can imagine how dirty our clothes got. The water in the washtubs had to be changed after every load.

MARTY: You mean you didn’t have a washing machine?

JOE: My mother was our washing machine. Momma would scrub the clothes on a washboard with homemade lye soap. Then the clothes would be wrung out by hand and put in the vat of boiling water. Momma would stand over that boiling water and stir those clothes with a broomstick. She would move the broom handle around and around and up and down for 15 minutes. When the clothes finished boiling, Momma would put them into the “rinse tub.” She would swish each piece of clothing around, wring it out, and put it into the third washtub that contained bluing. Bluing was what we used instead of bleach. After the clothes were swished around in the bluing, they would be hung on the line to dry. And that was just the first load!

SELMA: Then came the ironing. You young folks don’t even know the meaning of the word iron. Today, everyone uses lightweight electric irons. When I was a girl, an iron was a six or seven-pound wedge of iron that was heated on the wood stove. We would wrap a pot holder around the iron’s handle to keep from getting burned. Of course, the pot holder would always slip, and then you would feel hot metal against your skin. My hands had blisters on top of blisters at the end of ironing day.

MARTY: Ironing DAY? SELMA: In those days, ironing was an all day affair. It would take forever just to iron one cotton shirt—we didn’t have permanent press!

MARTY: Life sounds pretty rough back then. Did you ever have fun?

JOE: Sure, we had fun. We didn’t have TVs or video games when I was growing up, so we had to make our own fun. We used to play baseball. Let me tell you, I was a heck of a right fielder. Just like Babe Ruth.

SELMA: Oh, I’m sure you were just as good as Babe Ruth. I don’t know why the Yankees never asked you to play for them.

JOE: I was good. I just couldn’t hit like the Babe. No one could.

SELMA: I was never much of a baseball fan. I preferred the motion pictures. I saw my first motion picture in 1920. It was a silent film called The Sheik, starring Rudolph Valentino. All the women were swooning over Valentino and fainting in the aisles. With all that commotion going on, you couldn’t read the subtitles. It was very annoying.

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©2020 The NEED Project

Energy Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

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The Dark Ages — Life Before Electricity

MARTY: I imagine it was.

SELMA: Thankfully, The Jazz Singer with Al Jolson opened in 1927. It was the first full-length talkie. When Jolson said, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet,” I think he was talking about the movie industry. Things really happened fast after that.

MARTY: I hear radios were popular before the days of television.

SELMA: Just about everyone I knew had a radio. We got our first radio in 1925, and I would run home from school every day to hear my favorite programs. Of all the new electric appliances you could buy, I think the radio was the most popular.

JOE: We didn’t have a radio. Some of the men who had musical instruments would get together at night and play a few tunes. Our neighbors, the McCoys, had a phonograph. They only had one record, and they would play it over and over again. It drove us crazy, until my brother Frank Hatfield “accidentally” broke the record.

MARTY: Were the McCoys mad?

JOE: I thought there was going to be another feud! But they simmered down. Neighbors really had to depend on each other in those days.

If there was an emergency, you couldn’t pick up a phone and call someone.

MARTY: What did you do?

JOE: You would send someone for help. Of course, you never knew when, or if, help was coming. In more than one case, help arrived too late.

MARTY: Without telephones, how did people keep in touch?

SELMA: My mother used to write a lot of letters. She would write to her family in Europe every week. I remember she used to write on the envelope “per” and then the name of a ship.

JOE: People would send telegraph messages when it was something really important. We hated to get telegrams—it often meant someone had died.

MARTY: When did you get a telephone?

SELMA: We got our telephone in 1922. Momma didn’t care much for the telephone. The bell would ring all day, and she couldn’t get anything done. But I liked being able to talk to my friends at night. In fact, after high school, I went to work as a telephone operator.

Things were a lot different in those days. Whenever someone picked up a telephone receiver, an operator would say “Number, please.”

The operator would plug a jack into the proper place on a board to make the connection. You really had to work fast. I don’t know how many times I pulled out the wrong jack and disconnected people in the middle of their conversation.

JOE: Tell the story about your first day on the job.

SELMA: Oh, yes. A woman came up to me and said, “If there’s a snowstorm, this place will really blow up.” When I got home, I told my parents I couldn’t work for the phone company because it might blow up. You see, I misunderstood the woman. She meant the phone company would get really busy when it snowed.

MARTY: What about transportation?

JOE: Since we didn’t live far from the coal mines, we walked to work every day. You just didn’t travel much in those days. To go any distance, you had to take a train or boat.

SELMA: It was a lot easier getting around in the city. Before electricity, there were horse-drawn streetcars, hansom cabs, and horse and carriages. Every morning I woke up to hear the clip-clopping of the horses’ feet on the cobblestones as the milkman and bakery man began their deliveries. In those days, almost everything was delivered to you.

MARTY: Did electricity change things?

SELMA: Oh, yes. After the city was electrified, you could ride a trolley car just about anywhere for a nickel. The trolley cars ran along tracks embedded in the street. Overhead, there were wires that provided electricity to the trolley cars. As a prank, some of the older boys would tug on the pole that transferred electricity from the overhead wire to the trolley car. The power would be cut off, and the trolley car would

©2020 The NEED Project

Energy Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

www.NEED.org

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The Dark Ages — Life Before Electricity

coast to a stop. We would laugh as the motorman dashed out of the trolley car after those boys. Of course, the adults in the trolley never thought it was funny. I guess they didn’t care for the delay.

MARTY: Did they have subways in New York City back then?

SELMA: There were subways and elevated trains called Els. In those days, most of the subway lines were also elevated. The Els and subways were so much faster than the trolley cars, and it was fun riding high above the city streets.

MARTY: What about automobiles?

SELMA: My family got our first automobile, a Model T Ford, in 1927. That was the last year Model T’s were manufactured. You can’t imagine the freedom we acquired when we bought that Model T. MARTY: What do you mean?

SELMA: Well, owning a car meant that we could travel more easily outside of New York City. Although, the roads back then were nothing to write home about. Only the city streets were paved with asphalt. Once you got out of the city, you had to drive on dirt roads.

MARTY: At least your gasoline was cheap. I’ve seen movies that showed gas stations selling gas for 21 cents a gallon back then.

SELMA: How much is minimum wage today for a young worker?

MARTY: Just over seven dollars an hour.

SELMA: And the price of a gallon of gas?

MARTY: Between two and three dollars per gallon in most states.

SELMA: So, you only have to work half an hour to pay for a gallon of gas. Well, when I first started working at the phone company, I earned 15 cents an hour. That means I would’ve had to work more than one hour to pay for a gallon of gas. You see, gas is cheaper today than when I was young.

MARTY: When did driving get really popular?

SELMA: Not until 1945 when the first super highways were built. It was the beginning of the American Dream—inexpensive cars, cheap gasoline, and safe super highways.

JOE: Come to think of it, I got my first car in 1945. It was also the year I met Selma.

MARTY: How did you two meet?

JOE: It was during the war. I had just returned from a tour of duty in Europe, and I met Selma at a USO dance in New York City. I got a job working for a printing company, and we were married a year later. I was happy I didn’t have to go back to the mines.

MARTY: How long were you a coal miner?

JOE: Twenty years. I started working in the mines when I was 11 and didn’t quit until I joined the army in 1941.

MARTY: What was it like being a miner in the 1920s and 30s?

JOE: Those were hand loading days. We didn’t have the fancy mining machinery they use today. Our tools consisted of a miner’s pick, a hand auger used to drill holes, and a shovel. The coal company made us buy our own tools. We even had to buy our own blasting powder, fuses, lamp oil, and head gear.

MARTY: How much were you paid?

JOE: Ten cents per ton of coal. I could usually load 20 to 25 tons per day.

MARTY: Can you describe a typical day in the mines?

JOE: I would be at the mine by 6:30 to catch a coal car into the mines. If you missed the car, you would have to walk. It was at least a seven mile trip, and they didn’t pay you for the time you spent getting into the mine.

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Energy Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

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The Dark Ages — Life Before Electricity

MARTY: What did you do once you got inside the mine?

JOE: Well, the “hoot owl” shift would have undercut the coal face with a cutting machine the night before. A loader’s first job was to lay track and set timbers to support the roof. You weren’t paid for those jobs either. After drilling holes, you would blast the coal with dynamite.

MARTY: Wow, that sounds dangerous. What happened after the coal was blasted?

JOE: You would shovel the coal into empty mine cars. If your coal had any “gray band,” or slate, you had to throw it out. If you didn’t clean the coal, they would dock your pay for loading dirty coal. If you didn’t clean up your work space, the cutting machine wouldn’t come into your room.

MARTY: I’ve heard that coal mining was a dangerous job in those days.

JOE: I can’t think of a more dangerous job than mining. Black lung disease, caused by breathing in coal dust, was a long-term problem for almost all of the miners I knew. And no matter how many timbers we set, there was always the danger of a cave-in. Of course, explosions were a constant threat, too.

MARTY: Why? JOE: Coal dust was always hanging in the air, and one spark from a kerosene lamp could set it off. Gas explosions were also a problem.

When I first started mining, we brought caged canaries into the mines to test for methane gas. When the canary died, we got out of the mines as fast as our legs could carry us.

MARTY: Isn’t there anything the coal company could have done to prevent these explosions?

JOE: They could have sprayed the walls with water to keep the coal dust under control, but the company said it was too expensive. But we did have a fire boss who came around once a day with a safety light to check for gas.

MARTY: Do today’s coal miners have it any easier?

JOE: Yes, mining has come a long way since the days of hand loading. Now they have machines to do the dangerous work, and safety regulations to protect the machine operators.

MARTY: Boy, things sure have changed a lot in the last 100-150 years. What do you believe has made the biggest difference in your lives?

SELMA: I think it was electricity. Electric appliances—refrigerators, washing machines, electric stoves—meant an end to household drudgery.

Electricity also revolutionized the work place—from factories to farms.

JOE: I would have to disagree with you, Selma.

SELMA: I’m not surprised.

JOE: The automobile made the biggest difference in my life. Suddenly, you could go anywhere in the United States. Owning a car also changed the way many Americans lived. You could work in a city and live in the surrounding countryside. Of course, the automobile industry made a huge difference in the trucking industry. Food and goods could be moved much quicker across the country.

MARTY: It sounds like both electricity and the automobile were important inventions.

JOE: They were. Things changed so quickly, it was sometimes hard to keep up.

SELMA: Joe’s right. In my lifetime, I went from not having electricity to seeing a man walk on the moon. That’s pretty darn amazing!

©2020 The NEED Project

Energy Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

www.NEED.org

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e AT HOME – THEN AND NOW After reading The Dark Ages-Life Before Electricity, answer the following questions.

1. How did people warm their homes in cities? In rural areas?

2. How did people stay cool in hot weather?

3. How were homes and businesses lit?

4. What kinds of energy sources were used?

5. How are things different today?

6. Do you think it was better to live in the “Good Ole Days” or today? Write a paragraph with at least three examples to support your opinion.

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Energy Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

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e Technology Use –Then and Now People have always needed to keep in touch with each other. Today, we use cell phones to text and post selfies and check our social media. How did people let each other know what was happening in the past?

People have always needed some form of entertainment. Today, we binge watch our favorite shows streamed on mobile devices and ride electric scooters. What did people do when they were bored in the past?

People have always needed to store and cook their food, wash their clothes, and clean their homes. Today, we have refrigerators, microwaves, and robotic vacuums. How did people run their homes in the past?

1. In the chart below, list some ways people communicate with each other, what people do for entertainment, and how people run their homes. Use examples from Joe and Selma Hatfield for the THEN column. Think about your life today for the NOW column.

THEN

NOW

COMMUNICATION

ENTERTAINMENT

CHORES AT HOME

2. Review your list and highlight any technologies. Are there more technologies THEN or NOW?

3. Describe three ways technology has improved over the last 100 years.

Š2020 The NEED Project

Energy Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

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e Dear Marty From horse drawn carriages to autonomous vehicles – life in America has certainly changed over the years. Daily life was very different before electricity made its way into every home. Even in just the past 35 years, your time traveling friend Marty (from 1985) would be greatly surprised by some of the technologies and energy sources you find common today. Write a letter to Marty. Teach him some of the ways your life today is different from life in the past. Give at least five examples. Then put your letter in the time capsule to be opened by future students in the year 2050. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Š2020 The NEED Project

Energy Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

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NEED’s Energy Timeline Grade Levels Elementary,

grades 3-5

Background In the second Back to the Future movie, Dr. Brown draws a timeline on a chalkboard illustrating for Marty how an event that happened in the past affected life as they knew it in the present.

Marty needed to see the timeline drawn on the board in order to understand their predicament. A timeline is a useful tool for reviewing events in chronological order.

Intermediate,

grades 6-8

In 2020, The NEED Project celebrated 40 years of delivering energy education. To mark this special anniversary, we created a timeline that highlights important energy-related events from 1980 through 2020. In this lesson, students will focus on one energy topic and pull information from NEED’s Energy Timeline to describe how energy use has changed over the past 40 years.

1 class period

Secondary,

grades 9-12

 Time

Objectives Students

will be able to find and summarize information located on a timeline.

Students

will be able to describe how energy use has changed over time.

Materials NEED’s

Energy Timeline, at www.NEED.org/energytimeline/ Devices

with internet access for each student Sheet

of paper per student

Preparation Gather

electronic devices for students. Verify they can access: www.NEED.org/energytimeline/.

Choose

which of the summarizing questions you want to use.

Procedure 1. Discuss the purpose of a timeline as a useful tool in science and society. Show students NEED’s Energy Timeline. As needed, explore the page’s features and review content together. Discuss the limitations of using NEED’s Energy Timeline to summarize how energy has changed over the past 40 years. NEED Tip: If you want to model the entire process of finding information on NEED’s Energy Timeline and summarizing it onto the student timeline, Space or Nuclear Energy would be good topics as they have fewer entries.

2. Have each student fold a blank sheet of paper in half the long way. Open it, lay it flat, and draw a timeline on the crease. Guide students in spacing out decades from 1980 at one end to 2020 at the other.

3. Assign, or have each student choose, one energy-related topic to explore on NEED’s Energy Timeline. Some suggestions include: Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hydroelectric Power, Solar Energy, Wind Energy, Transportation, or Electricity Generation. Each of these topics has at least ten entries for students to add to their timelines.

4. Students should review NEED’s Energy Timeline on their device and write down information about their topic on their own timeline, paying attention to chronological order. Have students review their completed timeline and write a paragraph summarizing how our use of the energy source (or energy topic) has changed from 1980 to today.

5. Share and discuss timelines and paragraphs with each other.

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

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Energy Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

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Alternative Procedure If your class is studying a particular source of energy, such as solar, review NEED’s Energy Timeline together and highlight only the solar entries. Write them on a piece of mural paper to create your own solar energy timeline to hang on the wall.

Summarizing Questions Additional

questions to assign and/or discuss as a class: Cite

examples from NEED’s Energy Timeline to describe how technology has advanced from 1980 to today.

Cite

examples from NEED’s Energy Timeline to describe how energy policy has affected how we use energy in America.

Cite

examples from NEED’s Energy Timeline to describe how our nation’s effort to reduce carbon emissions has evolved.

Choose

one event on NEED’s Energy Timeline that interests you. Research the event to learn more about its significance in history.

Write a few sentences sharing what you learn.

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Trend Alert!

Graphing Energy Use Today Grade Levels Elementary,

grades 3-5

Background In Back to the Future 2, when Marty and Doctor Brown return home to their present day, they find reality – as they knew it – terribly altered. An event that happened in the past seriously changed the future. Once they analyze where things went awry, they use their time machine to go back and fix the problem.

Intermediate,

grades 6-8

Of course, real life isn’t that easy! Even though we recognize our world is facing global climate change and rising greenhouse gas emissions, we can’t go back in time to fix our energy consumption habits. Changes can only start today.

1-2

class periods depending on the number of graphs and discussion questions used

Secondary,

grades 9-12

 Time

The three graphs in this lesson look at which sources of energy we use today, how much energy we use today, and trends in how energy use has changed over time. The graphs build on each other but can also be used independently. Each graph includes class discussion questions to build students’ understanding of our nation’s energy consumption.

Objectives Students

will be able to label data on a circle graph or graph data points on a bar or line graph.

Students

will be able to analyze data on a circle, bar, or line graph.

Students

will be able to describe how energy source consumption has changed over time.

Materials Copies

of student pages, or graph paper Colored

pencils

Preparation Decide

which of the graphs you want to use and make copies. Or, plan to provide just the data and have students draw their own graphs.

Review

Teacher Background on pages 22-25, which provides answers and support information to use while facilitating class discussion for each of the graphs.

Procedure 1. Complete the Circle Graph activity. Have students use the data provided to fill in the circle graph or create their own pie chart. Color the nonrenewable sections in blue and renewable sections in green. Review the graph together.

How

much of our energy comes from nonrenewable sources? (89%) How

much of our energy comes from renewable sources? (11%) 2. Refer to the Teacher Background section as needed to discuss the following: Do we use more renewable or nonrenewable sources of energy?

Which

energy sources did we use the most in 2018?

What

do these sources have in common?

Why

do we use so much petroleum and natural gas in America?

3. Use the Teacher Background section titled “Comparing Energy Sources Using Btu” to discuss how we compare different sources of energy with each other using a measure of their heat energy.

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

©2020 The NEED Project

Energy Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

www.NEED.org

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4. Complete the Bar Graph activity. Have students use the data provided to create a bar graph. Review the graph together.

What

is the total amount of energy we consumed in 2018? (101.0 Quad Btu) How

much energy came from renewable resources? (11.3 Quad Btu) How

much energy came from nonrenewable resource? (89.7 Quad Btu) 5. Refer to Teacher Background as needed to discuss the following: Burning

fossil fuels produced 81% of the energy we used in 2018. Which energy sources are fossil fuels?

How

much energy came from fossil fuel consumption in 2018?

Describe

some of the ways we use fossil fuels.

How

much energy came from renewable sources of energy in 2018?

Describe

some of the ways we use renewable sources of energy.

Could

we use more renewable energy and less fossil fuels?

6. Complete the Line Graph activity. Have students use the data to create a line graph. Review the graph together.

Describe

how total energy consumption has changed over time. (significant increase from 1950 through today) Why

do you think this is the trend? Use evidence from the data chart to support your opinion. (Answers will vary, but could include examples such as: I think there are more cars and trucks being driven today than in 1950, because in 1950 we consumed 13.3 Quad Btu of petroleum and today we consume 36.9 Quad Btu.) 7. Use colored pencils to plot additional lines for: coal, natural gas, petroleum, uranium, and renewables.

8. Refer to Teacher Background as needed to discuss: What

are some reasons why the United States consumes more Quad Btu of energy every year?

How

has the use of coal changed over time? How has the use of natural gas changed over time? How do these trends relate to each other? Do you think this trend will continue?

How

has use of petroleum changed over time. Do you think this trend will continue?

How

has use of nuclear energy changed over time. Do you think this trend will continue?

How

has the use of renewable sources of energy changed over time? Why do you think we are using more of these renewable resources? Why does the U.S. want to increase our use of renewable resources? Do you think this trend will continue?

Additional Resources U.S. Energy Information Administration - www.eia.gov/energyexplained/

Extensions To increase student learning about our nation’s energy consumption, assign the discussion questions to students to research and present to the class.

NEED

has a wide variety of curriculum materials you can use to further explore our energy use. Today in Energy highlights the economics of energy use. Choices, trade-offs, and costs are explored using math and critical thinking skills. Zap! That Energy Use is a simulation board game where students run fictional businesses to learn about managing energy use and expenditures in a commercial building.

NEED’s energy efficiency and conservation curriculum – Using and Saving Energy, School Energy Inspectors, School Energy Experts, School Energy Managers, and Managing Home Energy Use – helps students understand how we use energy as a nation, and how our school buildings consume energy for heating/cooling, lighting, and pluggable devices, including doing a school building energy audit. All NEED curriculum materials can be downloaded from shop.NEED.org.

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Circle Graph – Where Does Our Energy Come From?

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Use the data below to label each section of the circle graph with the correct source of energy. Color the nonrenewable sections in blue.

Color the renewable sections in green. Answer the questions below.

Energy Sources Consumed in the U.S., 2018 (EIA) Petroleum 37% Natural Gas

31%

Coal

13%

Uranium

8%

Biomass

5%

Hydropower 3% Wind

2%

Solar

1%

Geothermal <1%

Title: _______________________________________________________

1. How much of our energy comes from nonrenewable resources?

2. How much of our energy comes from renewable resources?

Š2020 The NEED Project

Energy Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

www.NEED.org

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Bar Graph – How Much Energy Do We Use?

Draw a bar graph using the data. Answer the questions below.

U.S. Energy Consumption by Source, 2018 (EIA) Petroleum

36.9 Quadrillion Btu

Hydropower

2.7 Quadrillion Btu

Natural Gas

31.1 Quadrillion Btu

Wind

2.5 Quadrillion Btu

Coal

13.3 Quadrillion Btu

Solar

0.9 Quadrillion Btu

Uranium

8.4 Quadrillion Btu

Geothermal

0.2 Quadrillion Btu

Biomass

5.0 Quadrillion Btu

Quadrillion Btu

40

30

20

10

0 Sources

Title: _______________________________________________________

1. What is the total amount of energy we consumed in 2018?

2. How much energy came from renewable resources?

3. How much energy came from nonrenewable sources?

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Energy Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

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Line Graph – How Has Our Energy Consumption Changed Over Time?

Use the data in the table to calculate how many Quad Btu we consumed in each year. Plot the total energy consumed each year. Draw a line to connect the dots. Answer the questions below.

U.S. ENERGY CONSUMPTION BY SOURCE (Quadrillion Btu) YEAR

COAL

NATURAL GAS

PETROLEUM

URANIUM

RENEWABLES

1950

12.3

6.0

13.3

0

3.0

1960

9.8

12.4

19.9

0

2.9

1970

12.3

21.8

29.5

0.2

4.1

1980

15.4

20.2

34.2

2.7

5.4

1990

19.2

19.6

33.5

6.1

6.0

2000

22.6

23.8

38.2

7.9

6.1

2010

20.8

24.6

35.3

8.3

8.3

2018

13.3

31.1

36.9

8.4

11.3

TOTAL QUAD Btu

Data: EIA 100

Quadrillion Btu

80 60 40 20 0 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2018 Title: __________________________________________________________________

1. Describe how total energy consumption has changed over time.

2. Why do you think this is the trend? Use evidence from the data chart to support your opinion.

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Energy Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

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Trend Alert!

Teacher Background

Use this information to facilitate class discussion for each of the graphs. Data and statistics are taken from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, www.eia.gov.

Circle Graph – Where Does Our Energy Come From?

Do we use more renewable or nonrenewable sources of energy? nonrenewable Which

energy sources did we use the most in 2018? petroleum, natural gas, coal What

do these sources have in common?

They are fossil fuels formed over millions to hundreds of millions of years as heat and pressure altered the remains of dead animals and/ or plants. Fossil fuels are nonrenewable sources of energy, we can’t make more in a short period of time. Fossil fuels contain hydrocarbons, an organic compound made entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Burning fossil fuels releases emissions into the atmosphere and produces carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. Scientists agree that increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, caused in large part by fossil fuel use, could have long-term effects on the global climate.

Why

do we use so much petroleum and natural gas in America?

First, think about HOW we use petroleum and natural gas. Petroleum is made into gasoline for our cars, diesel fuel for trucks, and jet fuel for airplanes. Petroleum and natural gas are used to make many products like plastics and even medicines. Natural gas is burned to heat homes and to generate electricity at power plants. (See also “Describe some of the ways we use fossil fuels” below.)

We use a lot of petroleum and natural gas because we have abundant supplies of these resources. We are world leaders in production of both petroleum and natural gas. The United States was the world’s top crude oil producer in 2018 and 2019. In 2019, U.S. crude oil production was 25.4 quads, the highest on record. More cost-effective drilling and production technologies helped to boost production, especially in Texas and North Dakota.

Natural gas production reached a record high in 2019, following record high production in 2018 and in 2017. We currently produce more natural gas than we consume. More efficient horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing techniques have resulted in increases in natural gas production from shale and tight geologic formations. The increase in production contributed to a decline in natural gas prices, which in turn has contributed to increases in natural gas use by the electric power and industrial sectors.

Comparing Energy Sources Using Btu Energy sources are measured in different physical units: liquid fuels in barrels or gallons, natural gas in cubic feet, coal in short tons, and electricity - generated from other sources - is measured in kilowatts and kilowatthours. In the United States, British thermal units (Btu), a measure of heat energy, is commonly used for comparing different types of energy to each other. One Btu is the amount of thermal energy needed to raise the temperature of one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit. A single Btu is quite small. A wooden kitchen match, if allowed to burn completely, would give off about one Btu of energy. One ounce of gasoline contains almost 1,000 Btu of energy.

We use the term quad (Q) to measure very large quantities of energy. A quad is one quadrillion - that’s the number one followed by 15 zeros! The United States uses one quad Btu of energy every 3.61 days. This energy comes from a wide variety of energy sources.

Bar Graph – How Much Energy Do We Use? Burning

fossil fuels produced 81% of the energy we used in 2018. Which energy sources are fossil fuels? petroleum, natural gas, coal How

much energy came from fossil fuel consumption in 2018?

81.3 Quad Btu Describe

some of the ways we use fossil fuels.

COAL - The electric power sector consumes most of our coal, burning it in coal-fired power plants to generate electricity. Many industries use coal and coal byproducts. The concrete and paper industries burn large amounts of coal to produce heat. The steel industry uses coal coke to smelt iron ore into iron to make steel. The high temperatures created by burning coal coke give steel the strength and flexibility needed for bridges, buildings, and automobiles.

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Trend Alert! Teacher Background

NATURAL GAS - Most U.S. natural gas use is for heating, generating electricity, and industry. The largest consumer of natural gas is the electric power sector, which burns natural gas to generate electricity. The industrial sector uses natural gas as a fuel for process heating, in combined heat and power systems, and as a raw material (feedstock) to produce chemicals, fertilizer, and hydrogen. The residential and commercial sectors use natural gas to heat buildings and water, for cooking, and drying clothes. About half of the homes in the America use natural gas for these purposes. Commercial buildings also use natural gas to operate refrigeration and cooling equipment and to provide outdoor lighting. The transportation sector uses natural gas as a fuel to operate compressors that move natural gas through pipelines and as a vehicle fuel in the form of compressed natural gas and liquefied natural gas. Nearly all vehicles that use natural gas as a fuel are in government and private vehicle fleets.

PETROLEUM - Crude oil and other liquids produced from fossil fuels are refined into petroleum products that people use for many different purposes. We use petroleum products to propel vehicles, to heat buildings, and to produce electricity. In the industrial sector, the petrochemical industry uses petroleum as a raw material (a feedstock) to make products such as plastics, polyurethane, solvents, and hundreds of other intermediate and end-user goods.

How

much energy came from renewable sources of energy in 2018?

11.3 Quad Btu Renewable sources of energy are naturally replenishing and virtually inexhaustible in duration but limited in the amount of energy that is available per unit of time. The major sources of renewable energy we use in America include: biomass, including wood and wood waste, municipal solid waste, landfill gas and biogas, ethanol, and biodiesel; hydropower; geothermal; wind; and solar.

Describe

some of the ways we use renewable sources of energy.

More than half (56%) of the renewable energy we consumed in 2018 was used by the electric power sector to generate electricity. Wind, hydropower, biomass, solar, and geothermal resources generated 17% of the electricity used in America.

In addition to generating electricity, there are a few other ways we use renewable sources of energy. Solid biomass is burned as fuel to produce heat for buildings and industry. Biomass can also be converted into a gas called biogas or into liquid biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel. These fuels can then be burned for energy. Geothermal heat is used for bathing and to heat buildings. Some farms and ranches use wind energy to power water-pumping windmills that supply water for livestock. Finally, we use solar thermal energy systems to heat water for homes, buildings, or swimming pools, and to heat the space inside of homes, greenhouses, and other buildings.

Could

we use more renewable energy and less fossil fuels?

According to the EIA, renewable energy plays an important role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Using renewable energy can reduce the use of fossil fuels, which are major sources of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions. The use of renewable energy is steadily growing.

The consumption of biofuels and other nonhydroelectric renewable energy sources in the United States more than doubled from 2000 to 2018, mainly because of state and federal government requirements and incentives to use renewable energy. The EIA projects that U.S. renewable energy consumption will continue to increase through 2050.

But why don’t we use more renewables today? Two main reasons are economics and technology. Generating electricity from renewable resources depends on location, and for geothermal and hydroelectric, we’ve already built power plants in those places, so there’s little room for growth there. Solar and wind are intermittent, meaning they don’t generate electricity all the time. Since power plants need continuous power for the grid, these are not reliable sources of baseload power. Also, they can sometimes be far away from large cities, so electricity must be sent over transmission wires to where it will be used. Transmission lines are extremely expensive to build. As technology improves and costs come down for energy storage devices, using wind and solar will grow. Fossil fuels have a well-established infrastructure, we have an abundant supply, they are inexpensive to use for power generation, and they provide baseload power. Considering the quantity of energy we consume every year, we may need to continue to use fossil fuels to meet our demand.

Line Graph – How Has Our Energy Consumption Changed Over Time?

What

are some reasons why the United States consumes more Quad Btu of energy every year?

According to the EIA, U.S. energy consumption increased year over year in 49 of the 69 years from 1949 to 2018. In 2018, Americans used more energy than any previous year in history - about 101 Q Btu, which was about 0.3% higher than the previous record-high consumption in 2007. It takes a lot of energy to meet our demand for electricity, transportation fuels, producing heat and manufacturing products. As our demand for these things continually increases so does our energy consumption.

Some other reasons include: population growth; large supplies of different energy resources available to us; we are a modern high tech society consuming a lot of electricity; and Americans own a lot of cars, we frequently travel on airplanes, and have a massive shipping network of trucks, planes, and trains moving our goods around the country.

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Trend Alert! Teacher Background

There are many factors that impact the amount of energy consumed in any one year. Historically, a year of economic growth leads to higher energy consumption, while a time of recession, such as we experienced in 2009, decreases the nation’s energy consumption.

The weather influences energy consumption each year, too. A very hot summer means we consume more fuel to generate electricity, and a very cold winter means we consume more fuel for heating. World events can cause petroleum prices to rise or fall, which affects each sector differently. When fuel costs are very high, people don’t drive their cars as much, lowering the amount of energy consumed in the transportation sector that year. However, if fuel prices are very low, more energy may be consumed for transportation fuels or electricity generation.

See also “Why do we use so much petroleum and natural gas in America?” and “Describe some of the ways we use fossil fuels” above.

How

has the use of coal changed over time? How has the use of natural gas changed over time? How do these trends relate to each other? Do you think this trend will continue?

In the past, coal was commonly burned in the industrial, transportation, residential, and commercial sectors for heat. Today, coal is mainly used to generate electricity by the electric power sector. According to the EIA, U.S. coal consumption peaked in 2007 and declined in most years since then, mainly because of a decline in the use of coal for electricity generation.

The use of natural gas has increased dramatically in recent years because natural gas production has rapidly increased. In fact, the U.S. is the number one producer of natural gas in the world. According to the EIA, “more efficient drilling and production techniques have resulted in increases in natural gas production from shale and tight geologic formations. The increase in production contributed to a decline in natural gas prices, which in turn has contributed to increases in natural gas use by the electric power and industrial sectors.”

Currently, the U.S. is generating more electricity at natural gas power plants and less at coal fired power plants every year. According to the EIA, the increased availability of low-priced natural gas has been the biggest factor in decreasing coal-fired generation. Coal-fired power plants are retiring, and those still operating are being used less. In 2019, the amount of electricity generated from coal-fired plants fell to the lowest level since 1976, while the amount of electricity generated by natural gas-fired plants reached a record of nearly 1.6 million GWh, up 8% from 2018.

How

has use of petroleum changed over time? Do you think this trend will continue?

Petroleum is the largest U.S. energy source. We use petroleum products to propel vehicles, to heat buildings, and to produce small amounts of electricity. Industry uses petroleum as a raw material to make products such as plastics. Gasoline is the most consumed petroleum product, followed by distillate fuel oil (which includes diesel fuel and heating oil), hydrocarbon gas liquids (such as propane, ethane, butane), and finally jet fuel.

The consumption of petroleum steadily increased for several decades, and there are many factors that contributed to this trend.

A network of highways was being built across the country. The economy was good, energy costs were low, and people had more money to spend. Families moved away from urban centers in a phenomenon known as urban sprawl. They purchased additional vehicles and began commuting, driving more miles than ever before. There was an increase in air travel, heavy duty trucks delivering goods around the country, and increased use by industry developing and producing new chemical products.

After oil shortages in 1973, the government set regulations requiring use of alternative fuels and introduced the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, which spurred vehicle technology innovation across the automotive industry. Fuel economy improved in the vehicles we drove, however, our total fuel consumption continued to increase dramatically. In 2019, the transportation sector consumed 60% more petroleum than in 1973. There are several reasons for this. First, there are more vehicles on the road, especially light duty trucks, SUVs, and heavy-duty freight trucks. Second, we’re driving these vehicles more miles each year. Third, the freight industry has really grown, which specifically increased the number of heavy-duty trucks, airplanes, and ships in use and increased the amount of fuel they consume. Finally, Americans like the freedom of driving cars – wherever, whenever, and as much as we want. We also like to order items online and have them delivered right to our door. Today, we drive more vehicles more miles, but they are more fuel efficient, which is helping keep petroleum consumption levels fairly steady.

How

has use of nuclear energy changed over time? Do you think this trend will continue?

Nuclear energy consumption increased as power plants were built and has held steady as no new nuclear reactors came online.

Nuclear power plants have supplied about 20% of total annual U.S. electricity since 1990. According to the EIA, the United States has 95 nuclear reactors operating today at 57 nuclear power plants in 29 states. More than half of the plants have two or more reactors.

The United States has the largest nuclear electricity generation capacity in the world and generates more nuclear electricity than any other country each year.

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Trend Alert! Teacher Background

How

has the use of renewable sources of energy changed over time? Why do you think we are using more of these renewable resources? Why does the U.S. want to increase our use of renewable resources? Do you think this trend will continue?

We used wood for heating, cooking, and lighting through the mid-1800s, until fossil fuels took over as the major sources of energy.

Hydropower and solid biomass were the most used renewable energy resources until the 1990s. Our consumption of biofuels, solar, and wind energy have more than doubled from 2000 to 2018, mostly due to federal, state, and local governments and electric utilities encouraging investing in and using renewable energy through incentives and requirements. According to EIA, 11% of the energy we consumed in 2018 came from renewable energy (about 11.5 quadrillion Btu).

See “Describe some of the ways we use renewable sources of energy” and “Could we use more renewable energy and less fossil fuels?” above.

Some reasons why we are using more renewable energy each year include the government offering financial incentives to install renewable energy equipment, some state governments having mandates for the amount of electricity they must generate from renewable energy, and government regulations requiring the use of ethanol and biodiesel motor fuels. According to the EIA, the Federal Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 requires 36 billion gallons of biofuels be used in the United States per year by 2022. Some states have requirements for renewable fuel use, too. The EIA expects our consumption of renewable energy will continue to increase through 2050.

One reason to increase our use of renewable energy is that it plays an important role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Using renewable energy can reduce the use of fossil fuels, which are major sources of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions.

©2020 The NEED Project

Energy Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

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Saving The Future Bingo

Grade Levels Elementary,

grades 3-5 Intermediate,

grades 6-8 Secondary,

grades 9-12

 Time 1 class period

Additional Resources One of the pillars of NEED curriculum is our Energy Efficiency and Energy Conservation units. There are hands-on kits for all grade levels to explore how we use energy in our homes and schools, how to save energy through conservation behaviors and using more efficient technology, and the impacts of our energy use. Download the following curriculum from shop.NEED.org: Using

and Saving Energy (P) School

Energy Inspectors (E) School

Energy Experts (I) School

Energy Managers (S) Managing

Home Energy Use (E, I, S) Energy

Conservation Contract (E, I, S) Today

in Energy (P, E, I) Energy

House (E, I) Building

Science (I) Plug

Loads (I, S) Carbon

Capture, Utilization, and Storage (S) Climate

Science (I, S)

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Background In the second Back to the Future movie, Doctor Brown takes Marty and Jennifer thirty years into the future - in a flying DeLorean! The goal is for Marty to change his family’s future. He pretends to be his own son, and instead of agreeing to participate in a bad opportunity, Marty has to “just say no.”

While it doesn’t go exactly as planned, Marty makes choices and behaves in a way that positively impacts the future. Luckily, his mission to save his family’s future is a success.

Can your students save the future playing bingo? We think so – since this isn’t your average bingo game! NEED’s Saving the Future Bingo activity focuses on energy conservation and specific behaviors and actions that students and their families can do today. Students will also learn HOW their energy conserving behaviors and actions save energy. Since every choice we make matters, by conserving energy today, we are helping make the future a better place.

In Back to the Future 3, Doctor Brown tells Marty and Jennifer, “…your future hasn’t been written yet. No one’s has. Your future is whatever you make it, so make it a good one...” NEED hopes you will!

Objectives Students

will be able to describe ways to practice energy conservation.

Students

will be able to explain how specific energy conserving behaviors and actions save energy.

Materials Saving

the Future Bingo master Class

set of names on popsicle sticks or clothes pins (optional) Prizes

(optional)

Preparation Make

copies of the Saving the Future Bingo Master for each student.

Decide

if you want to give prizes to the winners of your game and what the prizes will be.

©2020 The NEED Project

Energy Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

www.NEED.org

Procedure 1. Review the definition of energy conservation. Energy conservation usually means choosing to use less energy through alternative behaviors or actions.

2. Pass out a Saving the Future Bingo sheet to each student.

3. Give the group the following instructions to create their bingo cards: This

bingo activity is very similar to regular bingo. However, there are a few things you’ll need to know to play this game. First, please take a minute to look at your bingo sheet and read the 16 statements at the top of the page. Shortly, you’ll be going around the room trying to find 16 people about whom the statements are true so you can write their names in one of the 16 boxes.

When

I give you the signal, you’ll get up and ask a person if a statement at the top of your bingo sheet is true for them. If the person gives what you believe is a correct response, write the person’s name in the corresponding box on the lower part of the page. For example, if you ask a person question “D” and he or she gives you what you think is a correct response, then go ahead and write the person’s name in box D. A correct response is important because later on, if you get bingo, that person will be asked to answer the question correctly in front of the group. If he or she can’t answer the question correctly, then you lose bingo. So, if someone gives you an incorrect answer, ask someone else! Don’t use your name for one of the boxes or use the same person’s name twice.

Try to fill all 16 boxes in the next 15 minutes. This will increase your chances of winning. After the 15 minutes are up, please sit down and we will begin the game. Are there any questions? You’ll now have 15 minutes. Go! During

the next 15 minutes, move around the room to assist the players. Every five minutes or so tell the players how many minutes are remaining in the game. Give the players a warning when just a minute or two remains. When the 15 minutes are up, stop the players and ask them to be seated.

4. Give the class the following instructions to play the game: I’m going to randomly (draw and) call out names. If anyone has the name of the person I call out, put a big “X” in the box with that person’s name. When you get four names in a row—across, down, or diagonally—shout “Bingo!” Then I’ll ask you to come up front to verify your results.

5. Draw and call out names.

6. When the first player shouts “Bingo,” ask that student to come to the front of the room and tell the group how their bingo run was made, e.g., down from A to M, across from E to H, and so on.

7. Now you need to verify the bingo winner’s results. Ask the bingo winner to call out the first person’s name on their bingo run. That player stands and the bingo winner asks him/her the question which he/she previously answered during the 15-minute session. For example, if the statement was “Recycles at home,” the player must now describe items they recycle at home. If he/she can answer the question correctly, the bingo winner calls out the next person’s name on their bingo run. However, if he/she does not answer the question correctly, the bingo winner does not have bingo after all and must sit down with the rest of the players. You should continue to call out names until another person yells “Bingo.”

8. When the game ends, facilitate a class discussion reviewing each of the specific actions and behaviors listed in the game. How does each action or behavior conserve energy? For example, how does “Has walked or rode a bike to school” conserve energy? Students should understand that walking or riding a bike to school means you aren’t riding in a car or bus, both of which use fossil fuels for energy. How does “Uses LED bulbs at home” conserve energy? Students should understand that LEDs are efficient technologies that consume less electricity and give off less heat than older, inefficient light bulbs. How does “Turns off the faucet while brushing teeth” conserve energy? Students should understand that significant amounts of energy are required to extract, clean, distribute, and treat the water we use every day. If you reduce the amount of water you use, you will also be reducing the amount of energy you use and reducing the energy demand in your city or town. Be sure students understand their actions and behaviors affect how much energy they consume.

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©2020 The NEED Project

Energy Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow www.NEED.org

27

Extensions To further reinforce energy conservation behaviors, check out America’s Most Wanted Energy Wasters, found in NEED’s Energy Games and Icebreakers. In this quick, fun activity, students think about energy wasting “crimes” they have committed, suitable “punishments,” and create wanted posters of themselves. Download Energy Games and Icebreakers from shop.NEED.org.

SAVING THE FUTURE A. Has reused or repaired something

E. Knows how to use a programmable thermostat

B. Knows two ways to use less energy for heating water

G. Knows how to reduce air leaking into and out of your home

D. Can name two ways to save energy at school

H. Wears a sweatshirt or uses a blanket to stay warm in the winter

A

B ask for description

E

I

M switch to CFLs or LEDs, use a programmable thermostat, hang clothes to dry, etc.

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K. Recycles at home

O. Knows two ways to use less water at home

L. Knows two ways to save energy on heating and cooling your home

P. Has used solar energy to dry clothes

D ask for location in home

G

H

K

dishwasher and clothes washer

N

ask for description

L ask for description

O ask for description

turn off computers/lights when not in use, close doors and windows, etc.

caulking, sealing, weatherstripping cracks around doors and windows

ask for description

J ask for description

N. Has walked or rode a bike to school

C

F

M. Can name two ways to save energy at home.

J. Can name two appliances that should be run only when fully loaded

take short answers, use cold water in washing machine, lower temperature of hot water heater, etc.

program the thermostat differently at day and night and for the season

ANSWERS

I. Turns off the lights when leaving a room

F. Turns off the faucet while brushing teeth

C. Uses LED bulbs at home

BINGO

turn off faucet while brushing teeth, take short shower instead of a bath, fix leaking toilet, collect rainwater to water the garden, etc.

©2020 The NEED Project

use a programable thermostat, wear warm clothes/use extra blanket in the winter, on sunny days close blinds in summer/ open blinds in winter, etc.

P ask for description

Energy Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow www.NEED.org

e Saving the Future

ME ME E

E

E

L

NA

ME

O

Energy Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

NA

ME ME

ME NA NA M

E NA M ME

H

K

N

NA Š2020 The NEED Project

G

J

M

D

NA

NA

NA NA

I

P. Has used solar energy to dry clothes

C

F

ME

E

L. Knows two ways to save energy on heating and cooling your home

ME

B

ME

A

O. Knows two ways to use less water at home

NA

H. Wears a sweatshirt or uses a blanket to stay warm in the winter

K. Recycles at home

NA

D. Can name two ways to save energy at school

N. Has walked or rode a bike to school

www.NEED.org

NA M

G. Knows how to reduce air leaking into and out of your home

J. Can name two appliances that should be run only when fully loaded

NA M

C. Uses LED bulbs at home

M. Can name two ways to save energy at home.

P

ME

F. Turns off the faucet while brushing teeth

ME

B. Knows two ways to use less energy for heating water

I. Turns off the lights when leaving a room

NA

E. Knows how to use a programmable thermostat

NA

A. Has reused or repaired something

BINGO

29

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©2020 The NEED Project

Energy Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

www.NEED.org

©2020 The NEED Project

Energy Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

www.NEED.org

31

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