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We are at it again! Based on the feedback of students from the 2018-2019 school year, groups will be evaluating how small changes in lifestyle can mean big reductions in overall greenhouse gas emissions.
Students from Michael Strembitsky and Ecole Champs Vallee will collaborate to develop student-directed projects around energy efficiency and emissions reduction.
Come on our journey to see how students will design projects to help them reduce their carbon footprint by way of fewer GHG emissions!
Understanding Energy
This was a chance for students to learn all about energy and how it is used in every day life. How else can they make an informed decision about what to change unless they know how much is required for the activities they carry out on a daily basis?
Students explored energy in a variety of self-directed stations including Inside Education's Care Package, Alberta Tomorrow, book excerpts and much more!
Learning from Experts
Here we had the chance to learn about some innovative technologies in carbon capture and solar technologies by Dr. Steven Bergens and Dr. Jillian Buriak from the University of Alberta Department of Chemistry.
NOTE: The Covid-19 Pandemic interrupted our in-class learning before we could welcome Dr. Buriak into our school but we did have a Google Meet with her that was very informative!
Learning about Emissions and Energy
In order to understand how much greenhouse gas is produced when electricity is generated, we replicated the experiment from our previous year's project where we measured the CO2 emitted using a Cozir CO2 sensor and a micro:bit coded to report ppm of the gas. Students then calculated how much CO2 is produced per kJ of energy released from burning the fossil fuels.
These values would then be used to determine how changes made in their everyday lives could impact the GHG emissions released.
Energy Efficient Automated Devices
Well we gave it a good try... but Covid-19 and the first global pandemic since the 1918 Spanish Flu had other ideas. While students had initiated their work in designing energy efficient automated systems coded with micro:bits, the work was cut short due to classes moving online mid-March.
Prior to this disruption, students had begun designing systems such as:
automated watering systems
temperature regulation/ventilation systems
automated lighting systems
CO2 detection systems
Emission Reducing Energy Sources
The remainder of our project had to be altered as we were no longer in person and were not permitted to send materials home at the time. So I did what I could at school and at home to demonstrate some of the alternative energy devices we had ordered. This included solar testing kits, microbial fuel cells and wind generators.
I made videos and did online demonstrations for students - my 3.5 year old even got in on the fun as he was entranced by the solar demonstration kit.
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