Energy Lesson 5 : Renewable Energy and Michigan

Created Feb. 5, 2024 by Michigan Geographic Alliance

1. Challenge students to design an experiment to test if they can complete an everyday task using a renewable energy source. Can the sun cook food? Can wind do work? Can water do work? Can biomass boil water?

2. Students take an online virtual tour of a hydroelectric dam (http://www.desertusa.com/gc/gcd/du_glencandamtour.html and geothermalpower plant http://www.calenergy.com/aboutus4.aspx).

3. Through the Michigan Technological University Tech Alive Web Module, My Decisions Impact Michigan, the U.S. and the World (http://techalive.mtu.edu/meec/module17/title.htm), students can learn how energy-related pollution is affecting Michigan’s Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior.

4. Assign students to research how Michigan homes and businesses are using renewable energy. The following resources provide relevant information:

• Urban Options. Michigan Renewable Energy and Efficiency Success Stories. East Lansing, MI: Urban Options. Retrieved October 20, 2010, from http://www.michiganenergyoptions.org/education/renewable-energy-success-stories.

• Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association. Dimondale, MI: Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association. Retrieved October 20, 2010, from http://www.glrea.org.

• Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth. Case Study Series. Lansing, MI: State of Michigan. Retrieved October 20, 2010, from http://www.michigan.gov/cis/0,1607,7-154-25676_25679---,00.html.

5. Students learn more about biomass by completing the Michigan Biomass Curriculum Project activities on the MEECS Energy Resources CD.

Standards