HUMAN POWER…..ACTIVATED!

Have you ever walked across a carpet with your socks on and get shocked when you touched a door knob?  What about rubbing a balloon on your head and then having your hair rise? 

This is energy that we can generate through motion.  I took a 6th grade science class on a field trip to a global activism expo at the University of Illinois in Chicago in late April.  We learned all about motion energy and how green it can be.  It is a renewable type of energy and we could use it to power things up like TV’s, turntables, and lights in a room.  Instead of using gas, batteries, or oil to power those things up, we can use our bodies through motion.  In fact, we even saw demonstrations of how water can get pumped out of a plumbing system using motion energy, a bike and a generator.

Our field trip taught us how using renewable energies like solar, wind and motion can reduce our carbon footprint, be more environmentally friendly, and still harness enough energy for us to use on the things we use every day. 

Some of the class thought it was neat and made them feel kind of like they had super hero powers because they could also generate energy with their own movements.  Very awesome!

If you’re curious about renewable energy, go to http://epa.gov/climatechange/kids/solutions/technologies/index.html

Yvonne Gonzalez is an intern with the Air and Radiation Division in Region 5. She recently received a dual graduate degree from DePaul University.

Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.