By the time children reach third and fourth grade, they traditionally start
learning about different types of energy. Some of the ones they learn about
are:
🍎 kinetic energy
🍎 potential energy
🍎 light energy
🍎 sound energy
🍎 heat energy
🍎 thermal energy
🍎 electrical energy
🍎 mechanical energy
However... times are changing and more and more schools and homeschool
families are introducing types of renewable energy. What is
renewable energy? How many different types of renewable energy are there? How
can renewable energy help us? Keep reading to learn the answers to these
questions and more!
The inspiration for this blog post came from the children's book Planet Power by Stacy P. Clark. Planet Power is a nonfiction children's book about six types of renewable energy... hydropower, solar power, wind power, tidal power, geothermal power, and wave power.
What is renewable energy?
Renewable energy... also called clean energy or green energy... comes from resources that nature provides such as wind, water, and sunlight. Energy harnessed from these resources is called renewable because we can't 'use them up.' For example, we will never use up all of the energy the sun emits.
Renewable energy is different than energy made by coal, oil, or gas. Right
now there is an abundance of coal, oil, and gas deep down in the earth.
However, these fossil fuels are not renewable. Eventually,
all of the coal, oil, and gas will be used up and be gone forever.
Why should we start using renewable energy?
There are many reasons why we need to start using renewable energy. Here
are three of them:
- Renewable energy is cleaner than energy made from oil or coal. It produces less air and water pollution which makes it better for the environment.
- Renewable energy won't run out. When the supplies of coal, oil, and gas start to dwindle, their prices will skyrocket and they become harder to get.
- Jobs will be created. People will be needed to build and maintain the equipment used to harness and store renewable energy.
Types of Renewable Energy
There are several types of renewable energy sources. In the book
Planet Power, author Stacy Clark describes six of them. The ones
mentioned in her book are:
🍎 Wind Power: Wind power can be harnessed with windmills and
turbines. The first windmills were used in China and Persia as far back as
2,000 BC.
🍎 Wave Power: Wave energy is energy harnessed from the
waves of the ocean. Wave energy can be considered a type of wind energy
because the waves in the ocean are produced when air currents hit the
ocean or seawater.
🍎 Tidal Power: Tidal energy is energy produced by the tides of the ocean. Tidal energy mills were used in Spain, France, and Britain as far back as 787 AD.
🍎 Solar Power: Energy from the sun is collected by solar
panels and converted into electricity. The first calculators to use solar
electricity were invented in 1954. Since then, people have created
vehicles, spaceships, and satellites that use solar power!
🍎 Geothermal Power: Geothermal energy is harnessed from the heat generated below the surface of the Earth. Historians believe geothermal energy may have been used 2,000 years ago in China.
About Planet Power
🍎🌎🌳 Author's Summary: Explore six renewable energy technologies that are used around the world! Accessible verse and lush illustrations introduce children to important information about how we can harness the planet's natural resources including wind, water, and sun. Inset boxes define new words like "turbine," while extensive endnotes further explain the science behind each power source and the benefits of clean energy.
🍎🌎🌳 Title:
Planet Power
🍎🌎🌳 Author: Stacy P. Clark
🍎🌎🌳 Illustrator: Annalisa Beghelli
🍎🌎🌳 Publisher: Barefoot Books
🍎🌎🌳 Date: November 16, 2021
🍎🌎🌳 Pages: 40
Did you enjoy reading about renewable energy? If so, check out these blog
posts with more environmental themes:
- Book + Craft: One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia by Miranda Paul
- STEM + Craft: How to Make Earth Day Seed Bombs
- Online Audio Stories: The Adventures of Scout by the3engineers
- Online Book Series: Saving Planet Earthly by ClimateScience
- Factoids: Fun Facts About Honey Bees
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