Energy Report Cards
I spend a lot of time “eco-nagging” my daughters. Whether it’s “please turn off the light,” or “DO NOT stand there with the refrigerator door open,” I am constantly pestering them use less energy…a concept that I’ll admit can be somewhat abstract to children. A great way to teach kids about energy consumption is to turn the tables and let them teach you. Help your child give your house an “Energy Report Card”. Here’s how…
Energy Report Cards
For Toddlers and Preschoolers: At this age, the idea is to keep it simple. Download the free Home Energy Audit Kit from EarthCare and help your child identify the items in the pictures (of common household scenes) that use energy. Color the pictures and introduce the basic concepts. “When we turn the light on, we use energy.” Show your child how you turn off the light whenever you leave a room so that you don’t waste energy.
For Elementary School-Aged Kids:
Using the same kit mentioned above, take the concepts one step further. Look through the house together to identify the items that use energy (lights, TV, computer, cell phone charger, etc.) Now, see if you can find ways together to use a little less energy. Adjust the thermostat by a few degrees, unplug appliances that you don’t use regularly, replace burned out light bulbs with compact fluorescents. Check out HogBusters an online game where kids can learn more about the energy savers and wasters throughout the house.
Next, make sure your kids know just where all of that energy is coming from. The diagram posted below gives a good general overview of how this energy gets to your house. You can explore this site further to learn about the different kinds of energy and how they are produced.
For Tweens and Teens: Teenagers should already know what items use energy, but they may not be aware of how much that energy costs in resources and dollars. Surf with your teen over to Saving Electricity 101and scroll down the page to the Electricity Calculator. There you can look up the energy cost in dollars of most common household items (everything from coffee machines to X-boxes.) The idea is not to make kids feel guilty about using energy, just aware that the energy they use does cost money. Talk about the resources (fossil fuels or renewables) that are needed to create energy. You can also check out Home Energy Savers for a web-based home energy auditing tool that calculates your homes energy costs based on the averages in your local area.
Now that your kids know all about saving energy, turn them loose on their schools. A school “Energy Report Card” makes a great science project and can help schools save a bundle of money on energy costs. Oh, and don’t be surprised to hear a little “eco-nagging” as well. “Don’t put so much hot water in that bath, Mom!”
/images/ads/120.jpg)
I just did an energy analysis my brother’s house; he and his wife have three kids. The first step in conserving energy is to learn how it is being used. Google just announced the PowerMeter application yesterday that will allow homeowners to see their energy use on their PCs. Reviewing an energy report card every week with children using Google’s web based application (or other similar ones) would be an excellent way to conserve energy and teach kids about energy efficiency.
That’s an interesting article. I just wondered if you could tell me where to find more info on this topic ?
if your bathroom is a unsuite, it ought to match your bedroom, other than that any colour would be fine, imagine about putting in a large mirror to reflect more light and to make the bath room seem larger.
Are you able to please send me a mail. I actually like your design.
It is certainly interesting for me to read the blog. Thank you for it. I like such topics and everything connected to this matter. I would like to read a bit more on that computer networking soon.
i’m sure to come back reading through your posts. Enjoy a new awesome week. I will be in Rome till this Friday but yet I am going to continue to be online though so will still be viewing your own new articles.
I will be to return following your posts. Now have a new cool week. I’ll be in Rome till this Wednesday but i’m going to continue to be on the internet though so will be reading through your current recent articles.
Hey – nice blog, just looking around some blogs, seems a pretty nice platform you are using. I’m currently using WordPress for a few of my sites but looking to change one of them over to a platform similar to yours as a trial run. Anything in particular you would recommend about it?
When I originally commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get three e-mails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove people from that service? Thanks a lot!
I precisely had to thank you so much again. I’m not certain the things that I would’ve done without the actual secrets provided by you relating to my situation. It previously was an absolute fearsome crisis for me personally, but taking note of a well-written approach you managed it took me to cry over happiness. Now i’m thankful for your help and believe you find out what a great job you are always undertaking training the others via your blog. Probably you’ve never met any of us.
Hello! I simply want to give a huge thumbs up for the nice info you’ve right here on this post. I will be coming back to your blog for more soon.
Hello and also thank you for this excellent post. I am always looking for travel & holiday ideas to recommend to my own personal readers. It’s actually precisely what I was looking for.
I always enjoy your blog posts, very informative and handy too. Keep them coming!
I happen to be commenting to let you be aware of of the really good encounter our princess went through viewing the blog. She picked up many details, which include how it is like to have a wonderful giving mood to make certain people really easily know precisely various grueling subject matter. You really exceeded her expectations. Many thanks for displaying these priceless, trustworthy, explanatory as well as easy guidance on the topic to Mary.
You made some good points there. I did a search on the topic and found most people will agree with your blog. http://www.lemorlama.com/electronics/tested-steps-to-obtain-better-results-with-video-marketing/
I find myself coming back to your web-site only because you have lots of awesome insights and also you happen to be at this a while, which is very impressive and tells me you know your stuff. wholesale nhl jerseys.
“The first shotokan guy to show up and teach oi-zuki would be tackled, sat on, and beaten senseless.”
This is great information for writers. Thanks.
I find this blog is good advise Like i find at my favourite poker site where I learn The Basics of Texas Holdem.
I’ve been subsequent your webpage for 3 days now and I ought to say I’m beginning to like your publish. Now how do I subscribe for your blog site?
Thanks for not only taking the time to write this, but to even improve the information by making it easy to read and understand. Words cannot convey my gratitude.
I wish to say that this post is awesome, nice written and include almost all important infos. I’d like to see more posts like this .
We just couldnt depart your site before stating that I really enjoyed the standard info a person offer for your site visitors? Will be back again quickly in order to check out new articles
Amazing blogs. Your links in this are good. I went via all this and I really thanks for your guidance.
Yay google is my king helped me to find this outstanding web site!
Fantastic website. A lot of helpful information here. I’m sending it to some buddies ans also sharing in delicious. And naturally, thank you to your effort!
Great write-up, I am normal visitor of one’s web site, maintain up the nice operate, and It’s going to be a regular visitor for a long time.
I always used to think that, while, the first word meant a person who blogs, the second word stood for a blog hosting site! Now, I am utterly confused because my uncle tells me, that both of them are the same hosting site for those who blog with Google using blogger/blogspot! Can somebody with authentic knowledge please help me resolve my doubt? Please take my question seriously and “I earnestly request” Y!A members to respond with discreet academic answers, following community guidelines..
Dear sir,Thanks so much for this great information you are sharing here, indeed we are well informed through you and i must be a partaker of this.
Recently I received an e-mail amongst other junk mail about meditation. I visited the site and downloaded their sample. Next day I posted my comment and to my surprise my comment was blocked, by their promoter. I guess because I wrote that apart from the beautiful music ever put on meditation or brainwave entrainment tracks, I felt nothing at all in those 10 minutes or even after 3 loops.
This post is very informative and will be a great help for those people who are looking for ways to make money.i think eBay is wonderful to make money.Thanks for sharing this post.
anonyma alkoholister bill…\n\n[...]m Advertising on Facebook is something many people talk about but few seem to zu[...]…
I am really impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your blog. Is this a paid theme or did you modify it yourself? Anyway keep up the nice quality writing, it is rare to see a nice blog like this one today..
You actually make it seem so easy together with your presentation however I in finding this matter to be actually something which I believe I’d never understand. It seems too complex and extremely large for me. I am looking forward to your subsequent publish, I will attempt to get the hold of it!