The Great Energy Debate

Part I — Poster

Choose one of these renewable energy sources

Make a poster advocating the use of your chosen energy source. The poster should:

Tell briefly what the alternative energy source is.
Explain briefly how the alternative energy source works.
Use several good pictures to help attract attention to the alternative energy source.
Persuade people that they should use the alternative energy source.

The best poster in each category will be posted outside of the classroom.

Part II — Oral Presentation

Get together with up to 3 other students that have chosen the same source and prepare an oral presentation advocating for your energy source. In association with these other students, prepare a four-slide PowerPoint^TM to accompany your oral presentation.

Your presentation should be based on this design brief.

Design Brief

Client Company

Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR)

Target Consumer

Environmentally conscious consumers of electricity who care about natural resources, have disposable income, and are living in central Maryland

Problem Statement

In order to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels (e.g. foreign oil), provide jobs, put un-used land to productive use, and reduce the cost of energy to Maryland consumers, the client will allow one company to put an alternative energy production site on public lands. This site should provide a safe, economical, and eco-friendly source of energy to the target consumer.

Design Statement

After you complete your poster, form a group of up to 3 students who have chosen the same alternative energy source. Design an alternative energy production site (that uses your chosen energy source) to be located on public land in Maryland. Present your group solution to the class (which will be acting as a board representing the client).

Constraints

The solution should be based on true, factual, and current information and should be:

Specific enough to be built
Environmentally Friendly
Non-polluting
Economically viable
Based on commercially available equipment
Located on State Forest land or the Chesapeake Bay
Well-researched and accurately documented
Presented in less than 10 minutes using no more that four (4) PowerPoint^TM slides (include an explanation of how your chosen system operates)

Standards

An outstanding proposal that exceeds all expectations will be…

Specific, relevant, timely.
Reflective of actual prices and current conditions.
Appealing, balanced, compelling, original.
Well documented, reflecting depth of research.