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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 websites 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 website 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 websites
 More
information about this step
Research
Now students should begin to find the answers to the
following questions by using the book-marked websites 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 websites for
student research
 More
information about this step
Conduct an energy audit following the directions from one
of the websites 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 websites 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 websites 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 website 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
website, 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 websites for
student research
Have students create a website 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 website 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 website!
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 website
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