What are our alternatives

What are our alternatives? Name _______________________________________

Many people worry that the resources we use for energy are running out. Are there alternatives that are ready to use? Which alternative is best? How can we make the right decisions? Most of these decisions are made by political and industrial leaders, so what can we do?

You actually have the power to influence the people who make decisions about energy. One way we can influence decision makers is by our votes. The other way we can influence these decisions is by our “purchasing power”. In other words, we make a kind of “vote” with the products we chose to buy or not to buy. For example, someone who decides to buy a car that gets 30 miles per gallon instead of a car that gets 15 miles per gallon is “casting a vote” for high mileage cars.

The challenge facing people is knowing how to make good decisions. To make good decisions we need to know what we are talking about. This is the purpose of this assignment – to learn about our energy alternatives.

Each student will have an energy resource to research. We will go to the library one day to do research. You also will have a bell in computer lab to do work. Any additional time you need will be on your own. Each student will be responsible for developing a presentation of about 3 – 5 minutes. The presentation could be a Power Point, a web page, Smart Notebook, a video, or a “Movie Maker” presentation. You will present this in your computer class where the technical aspects will be graded AND you will also present it to your science class where the content will be graded. We will also exchange information, and complete the “Summary Outline of Energy Alternatives” so that everyone will have knowledge about each energy resource. As a final step in the project, each student will be expected to write a paragraph describing what the future of energy use should be like.

You will have to do a works cited and a works consulted, so you need to keep a list of your sources.

Due dates:

The web evaluation sheet is due _______________.
This packet is due _______________ (Including your works consulted and works cited).
You will present in science class on ________________.
Your “Summary Outline of Energy Alternatives” will be completed by ________________.
You will present in computer class on ________________.

Your assigned “Energy Resource” (or “Way of getting energy”): _______________________________________________

1. Describe your energy resource, including what we use the energy to do (such as for transportation or to generate electricity).

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Is your resource renewable or non-renewable, and what makes it that way? _______________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. List any synonyms that you find for your resource: ___________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. How did/does this energy resource form in the first place and where can we find it? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. In what way is your energy source used? Explain, in some detail, the technologies we use to get energy from this resource. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

6. What other uses are there for this resource?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

7. Make a list of the advantages and disadvantages of your energy resource:

ADVANTAGES	DISADVANTAGES

8. Explain whether or not this energy resource is a good choice for the future. Support what you say with two or more facts. Each fact needs an internal citation. There is information about how to do an internal citation and a works cited on the library web page. This is an important question, so consider your answer carefully.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Citations: The lines here are for you to write the information for your two citations. You will also need a typed copy.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

9. Works consulted: You must have at least these four sources. One must be from the Gale Student Resource Database. One must be a book. You are also required to use an encyclopedia. Another source must be a web site because you will be required to do a web evaluation for the site. The Web Evaluation form is on the “class projects” link on the library web page. The lines here are for you to write the information for your four sources. You will also need a typed copy.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________