ENERGY INVESTIGATOR

• Post-it notes

• timer

Energy is the ability to do work or make change. Energy is invisible, but we know when it’s working! Do you turn off the lights when you leave a room? How many devices do you charge? Everything you do requires energy. Look for energy clues all around your home or classroom. Find objects and mark them with a Post-it note to see all the things around you that use energy.

› Look all around your home or classroom. Identify what is using energy.

› Mark what is using energy with a Post-it note.

› After 10 minutes, make observations about all the things using energy. How many ways do you use energy in your home or classroom? Can you spot ways to use less energy?

Using renewable energy such as wind and solar saves water. Nearly 60,000 gallons of water per megawatt hour (MWh) of electricity are used to produce gas, coal, or nuclear energy.

Try This!

Take this online energy literacy quiz to test your knowledge about energy. What can you do to learn more about energy?

Climate Change History

Eunice Foote (1819–1888) was the first scientist to make the connection between the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere and climate change. Her research and experiments measured carbon dioxide levels as early as 1856. Scientists such as Charles David Keeling (1928–2005) used her work to continue to measure carbon dioxide levels. Today, we measure not only carbon dioxide levels, but other greenhouse gas levels in our atmosphere. The level of greenhouse gases has been rapidly rising. In fact, the level of carbon dioxide is far higher now than during any period in Earth’s history. To fight climate change, we must lower our release of greenhouse gases.