The pamphlet “How to Understand Your Utility Bill” is an excellent reading guide which should be assigned as homework for parents and students. Each student should have received a copy by now. Basically the pamphlet explains such terms as the btu, cubic feet, watt, kilowatt, fuel adjustment cost, PGA, and rate schedule. Topics include: How to Read Your Electric and Gas Meters; How to Apply Your Meter-Reading Skills; How to Understand Your Electric and Gas Bills; Energy Costs of Major Home Appliances. The pamphlet is self-explanatory and vital, therefore I will not elaborate on its content except to mention some possible adaptations. For instance, the sample bill can be dittoed, and used as a study guide which will aid the explanation of the “Calculating” section.
As part of the total energy curriculum, in relationship to this entire Science curriculum and in coordination with other programs such as the “Captain Power and Power Quiz” program, we can develop programs that can be useful and relevant.
This unit can and should be correlated with previous mentioned programs designed for the U.I. to introduce upper elementary pupils to basic concepts and understandings related to the current energy situation and to help them develop energy conservational skills to use and apply on a daily basis.
Hopefully, one of the underlining outcomes of this unit will provoke people through their children into realizing that a little awareness goes a long way. Dr. Glenn Seaborg, Nobel Prize winner and former Chairman of the now disbanded Atomic Energy Commission, has this vision of the future: “The wise use of energy can restore nature and rejuvenate man. It can help us to turn green again much of the desert wasteland that was once natural gardens. It can help us clean up our man—made environment and rebuild the lives of men and the lands and cities they inhabit. It can help us build the foundation for lasting peace on this planet—to open new frontiers to man, physical frontiers of the mind and spirit. In short, the future of energy is the future of man. Without it we become nothing. With it, we wish to be.”
