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Energy Audit
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Step
1 - State the Problem
Step 2 - Research,
and Hypothesize or Predict
Step 3 - Plan Experiment
and Gather Data
Step 4 - Analyze the
Data and Make a Conclusion
Step 5 - Take Action
Step 6 - Assessment
 More
information about this step
Begin by stating the project problem: How does human energy
consumption affect the environment, and how can we cut down
the amount of energy we use? Ask students what they think the
answers to these questions are before they begin research. You
may want to record and post their answers in the classroom so
that they can see how their knowledge base changes by the end
of the project.
Afterwards, have them watch the WHAT'S UP IN THE ENVIRONMENT
video, and/or visit the ENERGY
Hot Topics page of this site to give students a sense of
why this is an important issue.
Develop a survey
Since this project involves the local school area, students
should begin by finding out how much the people within this
community know already. This information will be useful to
consider when students design their energy-saving tips in
step 5. Student groups should begin by conducting an energy
opinion survey of students, school staff, and parents or guardians
from your school. You can have students ask the following
questions:
- Do students/school staff/parents/guardians think they
use a lot of energy?
- Do they feel that using energy hurts the environment?
- What environmentally-friendly energy resources do they
know of?
- Would they change their behavior to conserve energy?
- What are some methods they know of for saving energy?
As an alternative, students can develop their own survey questions
using the following process: determine what, exactly, students
want to find out; design questions that will get appropriate
results; administer a test survey to a small sampling of people;
analyze the results to see if the questions were on target;
revise the questions if necessary; then conduct the survey on
a wider scale. These surveys can be conducted using paper ballots,
or reach a wider audience if created online using one of the
many Web sites that provide pre-made survey forms (see survey
sites listed in the activity resources section below). Use school
announcements, e-mail (listervs), and the school Web site to
reach as much of the school community as possible for the survey.
Resources for step1
Materials needed
- Surveys - if you chose not to do it online: paper and
access to a copier machine
Teacher tool Web sites
 More
information about this step
Research
Now students should begin to find the answers to the following
questions by using the book-marked Web sites listed below
or by going to the library. You may want to divide groups up
so that they investigate these questions for a different kind
of energy. Talk to representatives from the U.S. Department
of Energy (see contact information below) to find out as many
ways as you can to save energy in your home and/or school.
Energy type research questions
- What are the different kinds of energy used in the United
States?
- How are they used?
- What impact do the various kinds of energy have on the
environment when used?
Energy usage and environmental impact
research questions
- How much pollution is caused by U.S. energy use?
- Why do we consume so much energy?
- What is the history of energy consumption in the United
States—how has it grown, and why?
- How much energy do typical households and schools use?
- How can you find out how much energy you use? How can
you reduce the amount of energy that you use?
- What are the costs involved with reducing energy use?
- Why hasn’t it been reduced in the past?
- What are the economic or political factors that may impact
energy conservation?
In the end the class can share their findings, and compile their
data into an energy usage matrix using either paper, or an Excel
spreadsheet.
Forming the hypothesis
Using the research findings, have the class predict which elements
are the biggest energy wasters in the school, suggest what changes
should be made within the school, and predict how much energy
and money these changes would save within the school itself. Finally,
ask student to hypothesize how much this would impact their
local environment. Have students record their predictions in
an Excel spreadsheet, or paper chart labeled "Predictions".
At the end of the project, after students have conducted their
energy audits and encouraged their school community to make
energy-saving measures, they will record their results in a
column labeled "Results" in the same chart/spreadsheet.
Resources for step 2
Materials needed
- Excel or large chart paper and markers
- Access to the Internet (optional)
Bookmark these Web sites for student
research
 More
information about this step
Conduct an energy audit following the directions from one
of the Web sites listed below, or with tips from a scientist
from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). In addition, the
DOE can provide a CD-ROM with energy efficiency ideas and
simple directions for conducting an energy audit. As you conduct
your audit, different groups of students can be responsible
for looking into energy usage in various areas. Observations
should be made daily and recorded in a lab book in order to
keep the data organized. You should review how each group
should record the different kinds of data before the audit
begins.
Resources for step 3
Materials needed
- Energy audit instructions if you don't want to use the
audit information from the Web sites listed below, then
write to the DOE for a free CD-ROM:
Department of Energy Energy Efficiency CD-ROM
The U.S. Dept. of Energy,
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy,
Office of Building Technology,
State and Community Programs,
Attn: Mail Code EE-42,
1000 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C., 20585-0121
Bookmark these Web sites for student
research
 More
information about this step
Analyze the results of your energy audit. What were the most
common areas of energy waste? Do your results show trends
that might be important for other schools and homes in your
area? If all the schools and homes in your area reduced their
energy waste, how might this impact your local environment?
Have each group of students write a report, or create a PowerPoint
presentation explaining the causes they found for energy waste,
and what can be done to solve the problems. Students need
to consider the financial and behavioral aspects in coming
up with solutions. You may want to ask an expert or a Department
of Energy official for feedback on your findings.
Resources for step 4
Materials needed
- PowerPoint (optional)
- Access to the Internet
Bookmark this Web site for student
research
- Ask an Energy Expert from the Department of Energy
http://www.eren.doe.gov/menus/energyex.html
This site allows you to ask a question of a D.O.E. expert.
It does ask for personal information, so teachers may want
to type in the questions themselves.
When you finish your energy audit, put as many of your energy
efficiency ideas into practice as you can. Keep a record of
how much energy you save! Work as a class to write a tip sheet
with your top 15 tips for easy and low-cost ways to save energy
at home. Make sure students use the information they gathered
in the survey in step 1 about how much
their intended audience knows about the topic, and what their
attitudes are. They should gear their tip writing accordingly.
Publish the tip sheet on your school Web site, and invite
community members to visit the link by sending out promotional
e-mails. If technology is not available, create and pass out
flyers to your school community. Once action has been taken,
have student groups monitor how much energy was saved as a
result of their actions. Record their findings in the "Results"
column of their charts created in step 2.
Resources for step 5
Materials needed
- Access to the Internet
- Materials for creating paper flyers: paper, markers, photographs,
glue, scissors, OR software as simple as Paint or PowerPoint
Bookmark these Web sites for student research
- National Wildlife Federation: Take Action
http://www.nwf.org/action/howtos/
This site gives great advice on how to write to local media,
write press releases, plan campaigns, and more. You may
want to have your students consult this site for advice
on how to write their tip sheet.
- Web Page Building Sites
http://www.homestead.com
http://build.tripod.com/classroom/demo/
http://www.myschoolonline.com
If you chose to create a Web-based fact sheet but your students
have limited knowledge of html, you may want to have them
use these free, Web templates that allow them to input their
images and text without writing any code.
Have students create a Web site using pre-made templates
from the sites listed below; or write an article documenting
the steps they took in this project. They should add a section
reflecting on why energy saving strategies they devised were
effective or ineffective. They should note what strategies
worked, or where they went wrong, and how they would correct
these ineffective strategies if they repeated the experiment.
The Web site or article should include information from the
chart and log books, and any feedback they got from experts
in the field. Also, students should include their reflections
on what it was like to undertake this project.
Once completed
and edited, notify your local newspaper to raise awareness
about the project in your community by sending them your reports,
or URLs. Send us your Web project
and we'll post it on the WHAT'S UP IN THE ENVIRONMENT Web
site!
If possible, return to the garden where you added the compost
a year later to see how the garden is doing and test the soil.
Analyze the new environment you helped promote and see how
it made a difference! Send us your results with a Web site
update.
Resources for step 6
Teacher tool Web site
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