Activity: Aussi Energy Audit – Upper Primary

Teacher preparation:

Overarching learning goals:

• Students recognise the relationship between energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.
• Students understand the relationship between watts, watt hours and kilowatts.
• Students understand how to apply Emission Factor figures to the calculation of greenhouse gas emissions.
• Students recognise where energy consumption can be reduced at their school and home.

Teacher content information: Electrical energy is part of our everyday lives at home, at work and at school. Most of our energy is produced by burning fossil fuels and this has a range of environmental, social and economic impacts. One of the most significant impacts is the release of greenhouse gases. A solution is a transition to clean energy sources. Another solution is to think about our personal energy footprint and reduce the amount of energy we use.

In technical terms, energy is the ability to make changes or the capacity to do work. Energy appears in many different for

Thought starter: What is the difference between electricity and energy?

School Energy Audit Workbook - Starting your audit

Why do an energy audit?

By doing an energy audit you will be able to:

• Look at the energy usage in your school;
• Record the details of the energy used;
• Make some evaluations or judgments about the school energy use; and
• Make some recommendations to the school about how to save energy and money.

Understand more about energy and energy consumption with the Energy cheat sheet.

Doing your audit

Step 1. Work out where the energy is being used at your school.

Each group will be assigned some rooms that they will audit. Once in your room, have a look at the appliances (including lighting) that are in the room. Think about how often they are used: Everyday? Once a week? Once a month? Rarely? Never? Only in summer or only in winter? And where is the energy being wasted? For example, are lights being left on in unoccupied rooms? Record your answers on Tabl