What is Energy?
Energy is everywhere! Everything in the universe is either matter or energy. We experience energy in many different ways. Energy is light. Energy is heat. Energy makes things grow and move. Energy runs machines.
We use many different sources of energy to do work for us. These sources of energy are very different, from coal power plants to solar panel roofs. The #STEMpowersOhio Design & Entrepreneurship Challenge asks students to think about the production and consumption of energy. We want to know, what can you create to improve how energy is made or used in your community!
Download a copy of this graphic here.
Introductory materials
The Ohio Energy Project and the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program are two of our partners this year. These organizations inspire students to choose energy careers, consider innovation in energy challenges and provide energy education for Ohio’s students and teachers.
Ohio Energy Project Additional Teacher Resources
The OEP team has compiled a list of open access resources to inform educators and present students with introductory lessons around energy education.
Ohio Energy Project Professional Development
The Ohio Energy Project believes in educator’s ability to influence the future of energy! That is why they strive to give you the educational tools you need and to provide excellent professional development opportunities correlated to Ohio’s New Learning Standards.
Energy Efficiency Education
The Ohio Energy Project team has created this document to help guide secondary educators on how to inform their students on the basics of energy education and how to begin thinking about changes students can make themselves.
Energy Sources Tour
Contact the Ohio Energy Project to schedule a tour of a local energy generation facility and get a firsthand experience to bring to your students.
OOGEEP Energy Careers
Information on Energy Careers – teach your students about STEM careers in the energy sector, including a video series and full career list
OOGEEP Energy Fact Sheets
Quick facts about energy, printable PDFs to share with your students
OOGEEP Energy Quiz
Share this fun Olympic Energy Challenge quiz with your students
Energy Generation and Distribution:
How can different forms of energy generation and distribution improve the wellbeing of your family and community?
Electricity explained: Electricity in the United States
The United States uses many different energy sources and technologies to generate electricity. Some of these sources and technologies have changed over time and are now used more than others.
How Electricity Generation Really Works
Generation is the first step electricity takes on its journey through the power grid, the gigantic machine that delivers energy to millions of people day in and day out. Learn How this process works for many different forms of energy generation.
How Does the Power Grid Work?
Electricity is a crucial resource, especially in urban areas, but electricity cannot be created, stored, and provided later. The power grid is the large system that covers the creation, transportation, and use of this crucial resource.
Department of Energy: Energy Sources
The U.S. Department of Energy classifies several different ways to generate and distribute energy. Learn the differences to better understand the U.S. power grid.
Ohio State Profile and Energy Estimates
Discover how Ohio generates its energy and in what parts of the state you can find each of these energy resources.
Electricity 101 | Gas Power Generation | GE Power
You know how important electricity is to your daily life, but you may not know how power is produced and delivered. This video explains the amazing journey from the power plant to your doorstep!
NREL Energy Basics
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory outlines energy sources are either renewable, meaning they can easily be replenished, or nonrenewable, meaning they draw on finite resources. Learn about renewable energy resources and how we can use nonrenewable energy sources more efficiently.
Energy Efficiency and Pollution Prevention:
How can you change your energy consumption to be more renewable and prevent energy-related pollution?
Energy efficiency 101: What is energy efficiency?
Energy efficiency refers to a method of reducing energy consumption by using less energy to attain the same amount of useful output. Learn some misconceptions about improving your home’s energy efficiency.
Climate & Energy: Energy efficiency and air pollution
Energy efficiency director Michael Regan of the Environmental Defense Fund, share three ways communities can cut air pollution and still have the power we need.
5 Simple Tricks to Lower Your Energy Bill 50% or MORE Guaranteed!
Learn how simple solutions around your home can increase your home’s energy efficiency and lower your home utility bills.
How does renewable energy help reduce air pollution?
Air pollution is the presence of a type of substance in the air that has either harmful or poisonous effects. Renewable energy is energy that is produced from various resources such as sunlight, rain, water, etc. and can be repeatedly replenished. How does the one then help the other?
Learn about Energy and its Impact on the Environment
Learn how the EPA defines Clean energy and how these new energy sources impact the environment.
ENERGY POLICY:
What can you do to better understand and change energy policy within your community?
Energy Resources for State and Local Governments
Although some renewable energy technologies have an impact on the environment, renewables are considered environmentally preferable to conventional sources and, when replacing fossil fuels, have significant potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Find out how our state assesses renewable energy impact and adoption.
Ohio’s Pathway to Cutting Carbon pollution
Find which policies Ohio needs to change under the clean power to meet current emissions and pollution standards.
Why renewables can’t save the planet | Michael Shellenberger | TEDxDanubia
Environmentalists have long promoted renewable energy sources like solar panels and wind farms to save the climate. But what about when those technologies destroy the environment? Find out how a balance between renewable energy and environmental conservation is required to impact adoption on new energy sources.
Energy politics and renewable energy
Energy politics and the adoption of renewable energy go hand in hand. This video presents several reasons why politics are so important for the adoption of renewable energy and what are some of the forces presenting faster adoption.
Habitat for Humanity: Shelter Report 2015
Habitat for Humanity is working to install energy-efficient measures to make homes in low-income communities better. Learn how to apply for federal assistance to bring some of these measures into your own home.
Sustainable Columbus
Find out what actions the City of Columbus has committed to making the city more reliant on Sustainable energy sources.
Clean Fuels Ohio Policy Agenda 2020
Discover the policies Clean Fuels Ohio is prioritizing to invest in smarter transportation in 2020. Solutions range from grant opportunities to modified emission standards.
SMART HOMES:
How can you use technological innovation to make your home easier to live in, safer, more environmentally friendly, and energy-efficient? How will you share your innovation with your community?
Spaces and Traces: Implications of Smart Technology in Public Housing
Smart home technologies are becoming more available to communities regardless of economic status. Read how a design workshop can show the benefits these technologies can have on public housing developments.
Living Smarter: How smart apartments are shaping the future
In urban communities, smart amenities are guiding the future of development. Learn how smart apartment communities use new technologies to improve the wellbeing of the citizens reliant on the housing.
Smart synergies: improving the connection between smart homes and smart cities
Learn how smart homes and smart cities can work together to make a better network of data-driven communities.
Smart Homes for the Rural Population: New Challenges and Opportunities
This paper examines the challenges and opportunities in the design of smart technologies for preventive healthcare in rural homes.
Rural redevelopment: Smart housing and community development ideas
Learn how some communities are planning to use smart technologies to tackle economic problems in rural communities.
Country Living and Smart Home Tech: They Fit
Learn how smart technologies can make rural living safer and more convenient for communities across the country.
Vehicle Electrification
On November 19, Rich Granger from Drive Ohio hosted a webinar for participants in the #STEMpowersOhio Design & Entrepreneurship Challenge. You can watch the recording of the webinar here. Slides from the presentation are here. Below are several of the resources shared during that event.
Drive Ohio: Electric Vehicle Charging Study
Report assesses the need for electric vehicle (EV) charging, primarily along Ohio’s highway corridors. Corridor charging requires relatively high-power Direct Current Fast Charging (DCFC) stations that can rapidly deliver significant added range to EVs at locations that are easily and quickly accessed by motorists. This report identifies DCFC gaps in Interstate, U.S. Highway, and State Route corridors and identifies options to fill them.
Drive Ohio: Drive Electric Resources
Interested in what it takes to transition to electric vehicle transportation? Discover why you should drive electric, what electric vehicle dealers are offering, and resources to help you drive safely and efficiently.
Ohio Environmental Protection Agency: Office of Environmental Education
If you need financial support to assist any projects being completed by your students or school, check out the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Education Grants.
Sono Motors
Sono Motors is a German company that is innovating what it means to drive electric. They want every car to be electric and shared. Driven by this vision, Sono Motors was founded in 2016. Today, their company prides itself in having an experienced team of engineers, designers, technicians, and industry experts who are developing and building a forward-looking electric car that is suitable for daily use, with integrated solar cells and innovative mobility services.
General Motors: Electrifying Engineering | STEM Online Learning series
General Motors wanted to better educate communities around America about the future of EV transportation. View their Electrifying Engineering | STEM Online Learning series on YouTube to learn how GM is leading the way in transportation innovation.
Minds-I Electric Car Lab
Electric transportation can be a scary topic. Find out how you can bring model electric vehicles into your classroom the Minds-I Electric Car Lab. Get all the parts you need to have your students construct an Electric Vehicle model and understand how Electric Vehicles work.
BRITE Energy Labs
The BRITE Energy Labs, located in Warren Ohio, are facilities used for testing all manner of energy-related devices and systems for efficiency and battery health. Learn how different devices are used to uncover this data and how battery health is a key component of many of the devices we use in our daily lives.