Energy and Climate Change (Earth Science / Physics)
The BioBus is a 100% carbon neutral facility, and provides students with a hands-on, working example of alternative energies. Students explore the solar panels and wind-turbine that provide all of our electricity; learn about how our engine runs on waste vegetable oil; and explore the trade-offs between plant-based heating like our wood-burning stove and gas based heating. Using this array of alternative energy sources as a starting point, students explore concepts of energy, earth, and the environment, and learn how the human use of fossil fuels is linked to global climate change through the ‘green house effect.’ Additional concepts include the relationship between plants and animals, alternative energy sources, the carbon cycle, the water cycle, fossils, and geological strata formation.