How to Teach your Kids About Renewable Energy

It may be the parents who make the financial savings by switching to renewable energy, but it’s our kids who will be the real winners if we are able to prevent climate change and demonstrate a sustainable way of living.

It’s important that we teach our children about renewable energy, from solar panels to ground source heat pumps, and it is never too early to start. Here are some free resources to get your children into sustainability!

1. Touchstone Energy, “Kid’s Energy Zone”

An extensive and fun resource that covers almost every aspect of the climate change debate, with particular focus on the need to reduce our reliance on conventional energy supplies. This website comes is full of games and contains enough worksheets to keep the little ones busy for an hour or two.

This resource is great for young learners.

2. How Stuff Work, “Resource for Teachers”

Another site listing a bunch of excellent resources for teachers, this site is generally geared towards U.S. audiences, but the renewable energy is message is the same internationally! They also have a number of their own articles on green issues, such as this cool piece on the immediate impact of renewable energy.

The How Stuff Works website has resources for learners of all ages.

3. BBC, “GCSE Bitesize”

There’s no excuse for not doing your revision, thanks to this free website from the BBC. An invaluable resource for children taking their Geography GCSE, Bitesize explains the differences between non-renewable fossil fuels, and types of renewable energy, such as solar heating and solar hot water systems.

This is a resource aimed at students studying GCSE level Geography.

4. Prince’s Rainforest Project, “I am Tomorrow”

This colourful resource from the Prince of Wales tackles not only deforestation of the rainforest, but also highlights the importance of solar power for schools, exploring the necessity of solar heating systems and solar thermal panels on our public buildings.

This resource is aimed at Secondary School students, but there is something for everyone on the site.

5. British Council, “Green is Great”

These comprehensive worksheets encourage discussions about sustainability and alternatives to fossil-fuels. They outline various steps Britain could take to significantly lower its carbon emissions by 2050, and allow students to see the pros and cons of different energy sources, including solar hot water and wind turbines.

The website is designed for upper-intermediate English language learners, but the discussion is relevant to everyone.

Whether you are a parent, teacher, or even a student, do you know about any cool resources for learning about renewable energy that we missed?