Clean Energy
This blog aims to give teachers lots of sources of information about clean energy, as well as teaching ideas.
Introduction
The Energy Heroes team teaches Primary School pupils about renewable energy sources such as wind, water, solar and geothermal power. These energy sources are “clean” with regard to climate change because—unlike fossil fuels—when they produce energy they do not emit greenhouse gases, the type of pollution that is warming our planet. “Clean” technologies can more precisely be referred to as low-carbon or carbon-free.
Despite the emissions involved in their manufacture and setup, all types of clean energy do far less to warm the planet than fossil fuels.
For more information click here.
Clean Energy in the UK in 2025
The UK Government backed the energy industry with a £1.5 billion budget for a recent energy auction, boosting energy security. They say that funding will accelerate the delivery of clean, cheap, low-carbon electricity to families and businesses, generated by renewable energy technologies such as wind turbines and solar panels.
Offshore wind has been described as ‘the backbone of the clean energy mission’.
Teaching idea
Ask pupils to create a poster informing others about clean energy- detailing what kinds there are, the differences between them and why are they important.
Key questions
What does a good poster look like?
Government projects
The Government removed the previous bans on new onshore wind turbines and held a successful energy auction. The 131 projects this year is the biggest auction to date – exceeding the 92 projects delivered in the last auction round.
This includes:
- the largest offshore windfarm project in Europe – the Hornsea 3 project off the Yorkshire coast
- the largest floating offshore wind project in the world to reach market, Green Volt, which is double the size of Europe’s total installed floating offshore wind capacity
- 6 new tidal projects, building on the UK’s world leading position, with just under half of the world’s operational tidal stream capacity being situated in UK waters
- a combined 115 solar and onshore wind projects, which is more than the total number of projects delivered in the last auction round
TOP FACT:
In May 2023 it was announced that Wind turbines had generated more electricity than gas for the first time in the UK. National Grid has also confirmed that April the same year saw a record period of solar energy generation.
Teaching idea: Clean energy Research
Ask pupils to research some more data around UK clean energy use and create a display using the facts they have discovered to share this new knowledge with the rest of the school.
Key questions
Where can I find more information about clean energy?
What questions do I want to answer?
Who can help me?
How can I share this knowledge with as many people as possible?
Solar power
Wind energy
Wind turbines turn energy from the wind into electricity.
Turbines turn so that they face into the wind. The turbine blades are shaped so that even low winds will push them round. Kinetic energy from the moving air is transferred to the spinning blades.
To find out more about wind energy check here.
TOP FACT:
Full power: the world’s largest wind farm
Once completed, Dogger Bank will be the world’s largest wind farm. Located more than 130km off the North East coast of England, it will have an installed capacity of 3.6GW and will be capable of powering up to 6 million homes annually with sustainably-sourced electricity.
Geothermal energy
What is geothermal energy?
Geothermal energy is a type of renewable energy that uses the Earth’s natural heat to heat homes and businesses or generate electricity.
Geothermal power plants
Geothermal power plants are built where there are underground reservoirs of water around fault lines in the Earth’s tectonic plates.
Find out more here.
Hydro power
What is hydroelectric power?
Hydroelectric energy is a type of renewable energy that uses the power of moving water (hydropower) to generate electricity.
Find out more here.
Clean Energy Innovations
Exciting innovations in clean energy projects
Solar powered aircraft
The Mauro Solar Riser is an American biplane ultralight electric aircraft that was the first crewed aircraft to fly on solar power.
Solar Impulse is a Swiss long-range experimental solar-powered aircraft project, and also the name of the project’s two operational aircraft.[1] The privately financed project is led by Swiss engineer and businessman André Borschberg and Swiss psychiatrist and balloonist Bertrand Piccard, who co-piloted Breitling Orbiter 3, the first balloon to circle the world non-stop.[2] The Solar Impulse project’s goals were to make the first circumnavigation of the Earth by a piloted fixed-wing aircraft using only solar power and to bring attention to clean technologies.[3]
Hydrogen-powered trains
As old diesel trains are phased out of rail networks around the world, the UK is about to test a new type of engine that could help to decarbonise railways – hydrogen-powered trains. Find out more here.
The train’s hydrogen power system produces sufficient power to take the train 50 to 75 miles. The train, called Hydroflex, is the UK’s first to be powered by hydrogen. It was being shown off to the public in June 2019 for the first time on the tracks at the Quinton Rail Technology Centre, a test facility at Long Marston, near Stratford-upon-Avon, in England.
Solar powered gadgets
Can our gadgets such as headphones and bikes be powered by solar power? Can other light sources be converted to electricity? Click here to find out.
Teaching idea: Gadget design
Ask pupils to think about what gadgets could be solar powered. Choose one and think about what kinds of people would benefit from it. Decide who you will design it for ,then draw a design, planning carefully how it would be adapted for the target user.
Key questions:
What kind of gadgets could be ‘solar’ powered?
Where would the light source be? (indoor, outdoor use)
What would the user like it to look like?
How can I make my design look more appealing?
Teaching idea: Clean Machine design
Ask pupils to design a new machine or appliance that uses green energy!
For ideas, see the Energy Heroes KS1 D&T resource, ‘Design your own Green Machine’, based around a poem by Pat Moon.
Key questions:
What do the different parts of my machine do?
How did I make sure my cleaning machine is ‘green’?
How could I improve my machine?
To find out more about books by Pat Moon, click here.
Thank you for looking at this article. We hope you found it useful. For more information about the Energy Heroes programme or to book a FREE visit from us ta a Primary School, please visit our website– https://energy-heroes.org.uk/
The Energy Heroes Team 
