Design an electric utility resource plan for 2025 and beyond
Students will design the integration of renewable or carbon neutral energy sources into the electricity generation mix of an example utility. The structure is a budget or a design or maybe even a puzzle where all ...

Oil Drilling Game
Students are each given 100 feet of drilling, to be used on a 144 mile square map under which is an oil trap. Working in teams, they construct cross-sections, based on stratigraphic and fossil data collected by ...

Carbon Footprint Exercise
We designed a three-step assignment for students in introductory geoscience that asks them to calculate their carbon footprint during one specific week. The goal of the assignment is to increase student awareness ...

Is There a Trend in Hurricane Number or Intensity?
This lab guides students through an examination of the hurricane record to determine if there is a trend in hurricane intensity over the past 40 years and introduces some issues related to statistics and ...

The Lifestyle Project
This three-week project challenges students to learn about environmental alternatives by modifying their own lifestyles. Throughout the project, students reduce their impacts on the environment by changing the way in which they live from day to day.

An integrated view of the Glendale Landscape
Students work in groups to develop posters that communicate their concept of landscape following several field labs (soils, sediment analysis, river discharge, vegetation survey, aquatic life) at one location. They ...

Hydrogeology Research Project
This activity is for students to work in teams (2012) or individually (2013) to develop a project (such as a physical or numerical model), survey based research, case study, technical briefs on a remediation ...

Evaluating the Effects of Local Energy Resource Development
This is a semester-long, jigsaw project for a class of 20 to 25 students that has students work in teams to explore the effects of energy resource development on local water resources, economics and society.

The Lifestyle Project at Vancouver Island University, British Columbia
The project is used in two courses, both with the theme of understanding the environmental implications of our use of energy, exploring personal energy use, and learning about the types of energy available to Canadians. One is a face-to-face course for Education majors, the other is an on-line course available to all upper-level (3rd and 4th year) students.

Resource Usage Project and Journal
Students keep track of one resource (water, electricity, gas, etc.) they use for a 7-day period. They summarize their usage patterns, give opinions, and get some self-realization about their habits.

Where does your energy come from? Analyzing your energy bill
Students use utility bills to determine the cost and sources of energy in their households.

Campus Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory
Students conduct a greenhouse gas emission inventory for their college or university. Students analyze findings and present information to the college or university community. -

The Lifestyle Project at the University of Redlands
This three-week project begins with a measurement of "baseline" consumptive behavior followed by two weeks of working to reduce the use of water, energy, high-impact foods, and other materials. The ...

Confirmation of the IPCC Prediction re: Increased Storminess
A two-part culminating activity for a meteorology/climatology unit in an Earth Science course centered upon data acquisition and analysis regarding the confirmation of the IPCC predicition regarding increased ...

Looking for Gas Layers in Anadarko Basin, Oklahoma
The students perform a well log analysis in order to discover gas-bearing layers in a sedimentary basin (Anadarko)

The Lifestyle Project
This three-week project challenges students to learn about environmental alternatives by modifying their own lifestyles. Throughout the project, students reduce their impacts on the environment by changing the way ...

Are Clean Tech Startups Sustainable and/or Circular?
Students apply what they have learned from the common exercise to a clean tech startup company. They map out the lifecycle of the product or service, identify potential impacts in each phase, and evaluate the ...

Structural Analysis of a Hot Dry Rock Geothermal Energy System
This project applies basic geologic skills to the development of a geothermal electrical generation system. I use it in a structural geology, but it would be applicable to any intermediate to advanced level course ...

Crafting a Sustainability Message
This activity asks students to develop text for a descriptive information board or kiosk to be placed at Growing Places Farm and Energy Park, a educational facility for at-risk youth.

The Lifestyle Project at West Chester University of Pennsylvania
This five-week project asks students to examine the environmental outcomes of their lifestyle choices, to investigate and try out more sustainable choices, and to write about their experiences.