Ever heard of energy vampires? They are appliances and electronics that use a lot of electricity even when in “sleep” or “standby” mode. Kids can use a watt meter such as the Kill-A-Watt EZ meter to plug in appliances and see how much power they are “leaking.” Infrared thermometers make it easy to calculate the temperature of an interior wall or window, to infer where heat is being lost. After gathering data, kids can design their own plan for saving electricity. For more ideas on how kids can conduct energy audits, check out this lesson from Teach Engineering.
