Earth Hour 2011: Join in! Spread the news!

From the humble beginnings of a one-city initiative in Sydney in 2007, Earth Hour has grown to be the largest ever voluntary action taken by mankind. What's more, this year, it carries added poignancy due to the triple tragedy which hit Japan on Friday 11th March, leaving millions of people without electricity. Earth Hour this year is not only to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change, but to show solidarity with the Japanese people.

Earth Hour was conceived by WWF and The Sydney Morning Herald in 2007, when 2.2 million residents of Sydney participated by turning off all non-essential lights for one hour, but each year sees more and more cities joining in. What's more, the call for this year is to go BEYOND the hour.



Will you be joining in?

Remember, tonight 26th March 2011 at 20:30 hours, local time.

To help Japan, go here.

Nuclear Energy Power Debate: What's the way forward?

With all the headlines on the problems of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in Northern Japan, now is a good time as any to have a debate on the viability of nuclear power as a source of energy.

The strongest objection of the anti-nuclear power lobby are the safety concerns, but what other methods of producing cheap clean energy have we got? Is nuclear power a dirty word? Is alternative energy the way forward?

I'm sure this topic will generate heated debate in the classroom, so why not organise one?

If you are not familiar with formal debate, make sure you read these: All you need to know about debate, and Debate: tasks for everyone.

There are lots of information available on the web, but I'll include a few here to start you off on the right track.

Learn how a Nuclear Reactor Works

-  How Nuclear Power works from How Stuff Works.

-  The Nuclear Fuel Cycle from BBC

-  How a Nuclear Plant Works from BBC
-  BBC also has a graphic explanation of the Fukushima nuclear alert and some facts about radiation.
-  Updated 11 April 2011: Detailed BBC analysis.

-  The Union of Concerned Scientists in Facebook has links & information

All comments will be most welcomed. Thank you.

Parts of a Wind Turbine: Labelling Game

The largely unknown tiny Canarian island of El Hierro will soon become anything but that.

By next year, it will become the first island in the world to obtain 100% of its energy needs from renewable energy. A combination of wind and hydroelectrical power will supply electricity to its 11,000 residents and its floating population of foreign workers and tourists, which, no doubt, will increase significantly.

It thus seems appropriate that we should look a little deeper into wind turbines. These look like a modern version of traditional windmills and basically converts wind energy into electrical power.

Watch the video, and then click on the image further below to start a labelling game. Play it a few times, and soon, you will know the names of the internal parts of a wind turbine.