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Requirements September 1987 until January 2006

1. Demonstrate the flow of heat energy. Use your demonstration to explain in your own words the ideas of heat, temperature, kinetic energy, calorie, and the laws of thermodynamics.

2. Give an example of each of the following forms of energy: heat, light, mechanical, electrical, chemical, atomic. Prepare a table showing devices for each form of energy that will convert it into another form of energy. Describe the idea of tradeoffs in energy use.

3. Make a color chart showing the world's known and estimated energy resources. Explain how long each is expected to last based on today's best estimates. Tell where you got your information.

4. Do the following:

(a) Prepare charts showing:

• What energy sources supply the United States with its energy
• What portion of our energy is used by homes, business, industry, and transportation
• What fuels are used to generate America's electricity

(b) Tell what is being done to make any three of the following produce more energy. Include cost, pollution, and safety problems in your explanation.

• Nuclear fission generators
• Nuclear fusion generators
• Cogeneration
• The sun
• The wind
• Geothermal
• The oceans

(c) Tell how our lives in the United States might be affected if energy supplies could not meet our present demands.

5. Show and explain to your counselor two articles from a current newspaper or magazine about the use or conservation of energy. Tell why these articles are important to the United States and why they are important to you.

6. Conduct an energy audit of your home. Prepare a written report in two parts:

(a) Describe ways that your family can use energy more wisely.

(b) Keep a record of what you have done to save energy for a 2-week period.

7. Find out about and describe in a notebook 10 different examples of energy waste going on in your town. Suggest in each case possible ways to reduce this waste. Find out and write in your notebook five examples you have observed of pollution from energy use. Suggest in each case how this pollution might be reduced.

8. Give a talk titled "Energy: Why We Need It and How We Can Use It Better". Use all of the materials you have prepared in requirements 1 through 7. Choose as your audience your counselor, a den of Cub Scouts, or another group approved by your counselor.

Requirements January 2006 until January 2015

1. Do the following:

(a) Find an article on the use or conservation of energy. Discuss with your counselor what in the article was interesting to you, the questions it raises, and what ideas it addresses that you do not understand.
(b) After you have completed requirements 2 through 8, revisit the article you found for requirement 1a. Explain to your counselor what you have learned in completing the requirements that helps you better understand the article.

2. Show you understand energy forms and conversions by doing the following:

(a) Explain how THREE of the following devices use energy, and explain their energy conversions: toaster, greenhouse, lightbulb, bow drill, nuclear reactor, sweat lodge.
(b) Construct a system that makes at least two energy conversions and explain this to your counselor.

3. Show you understand energy efficiency by explaining to your counselor a common example of a situation where energy moves through a system to produce a useful result. Do the following:

(a) Identify the parts of the system that are affected by the energy movement.
(b) Name the system’s primary source of energy.
(c) Identify the useful outcomes of the system.
(d) Identify the energy losses of the system.

4. Conduct an energy audit of your home. Keep a 14-day log that records what you and your family did to reduce energy use. Include the following in your report and, after the 14-day period, discuss what you have learned with your counselor.

(a) List the types of energy used in your home such as electricity, wood, oil, liquid petroleum, and natural gas, and tell how each is delivered and measured, and the current cost; OR record the transportation fuel used, miles driven, miles per gallon, and tips using your family car or another vehile.

(b) Describe ways you and your family can use energy resources more wisely. In preparing your discussion, consider the energy required for the things you do and use on a daily basis (cooking, showering, using lights, driving, watching TV, using the computer). Explain how you can change your energy use through reuse and recycling.

5. In a notebook, identify and describe five examples of energy waste in your school or community. Suggest in each case possible ways to reduce this waste. Describe the idea of trade-offs in energy use. In your response, do the following:

(a) Explain how the changes you suggest would lower costs, reduce pollution, or otherwise improve your community.
(b) Explain what changes to routines, habits, or convevience are necessary to reduce energy waste. Tell why people might resist the changes you suggest.

6. Prepare pie charts showing the following information, and explain to your counselor the important ideas each chart reveals. Tell where you got your information. Explain how cost affects the use of a nonrenewable energy resource and makes alternatives practical.

(a) The energy resources that supply the United States with most of its energy
(b) The share of energy resources used by the United States that comes from other countries
(c) The proportion of energy resources used by homes, businesses, industry, and transportation
(d) The fuel used to generate America’s electricity
(e) The world’s know and estimated primary energy resource reserves

7. Tell what is being done to make FIVE of the following energy systems produce more usable energy. In your explanation, describe the technology, cost, environmental impacts, and safety concerns.

• Biomass digesters or waste-to-energy plants
• Cogeneration plants
• Fossil fuel power plants
• Fuel cells
• Geothermal power plants
• Nuclear power plants
• Solar power plants
• Tidal energy, wave energy, or ocean thermal energy conversion divices
• Wind turbines

8. Find out what opportunities are available for a career in energy. Choose one position that interests you and describe the education and training required.