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Affordable and Clean Energy, Middle School, Energy & Power Science Projects (27 results)

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) are a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.
These projects explore topics key to Affordable and Clean Energy: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy.

Whether you are working, studying, or being entertained, much of our daily routines rely on being plugged-in. You probably don't spend a lot of time thinking about where all that power comes from, but someone has to! Figuring out the best ways to produce energy is a big job that is growing along with the world's population. Energy production is a complex topic with debates about whether to invest in fossil fuels or clean renewable energies like solar, wind, water, and geothermal. Take a first-hand look at some of the problems and challenges scientists and engineers are tackling as they look at making and storing energy.

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Build and Test a Sun-Tracking Solar Panel
Science Fair Project Idea
Scientific Method
How can you get as much power as possible out of a solar panel, even in the morning or evening when the sun is low in the sky? With a solar tracker system! While many solar panels are fixed in place on rooftops or large ground-mounted poles, a solar tracker system is motorized and lets the solar panels track the sun through the sky during the day. Are these systems worth the added complexity? How much more power do they produce? Try this project and find out!  Read more
Build a Solar-Powered Car
Science Fair Project Idea
Scientific Method
Do you want to build a solar-powered car? How about enter it in a competition and race it against other people's designs? If so, this is the project for you! These instructions will show you how to get started building a solar-powered car that you can enter in a science or engineering fair. No experience needed. If you want, you can even compete in the Junior Solar Sprint, a regional competition for solar-powered cars. Get more information about your regional competition. Are you a… Read more
Design a Mini Solar Tracker System
Science Fair Project Idea
Engineering Design Process
How can you squeeze as much power as possible out of solar panels if you do not have a lot of space to install them? By tracking the sun! Keeping a solar panel pointed directly at the sun throughout the day can maximize the amount of power it produces. In this project you will design, build, and test your own miniature solar tracking system using a fun block-based programming language - no coding experience required! Read more
Find the Best Place to Put a Solar Panel
Science Fair Project Idea
Scientific Method
Imagine trying to put a solar panel on your roof or outside your home to generate clean, renewable energy. Where would you put it so it generates as much power as possible throughout the day? What direction should it face? Is there a way to take measurements to find the best location before you install the panel? In this project, you will use a tiny programmable device called a micro:bit to record light data and find the best place to put your panel. Read more
How Does Snow Cover Affect Solar Panel Power Output?
Science Fair Project Idea
Scientific Method
What happens when solar panels get covered in snow in winter? Does some sunlight make it through the snow? Does the power output of the panels drop considerably? Is it worth it to go scrape the snow off the panels if temperatures will remain below freezing? How hard is this to do for rooftop solar panels or a large solar farm? These are all questions you can answer yourself in a science project using a small solar panel and a multimeter (Figure 1). You can follow a procedure similar to those… Read more
A Cool Way to Make Electricity: Solar Cell Power Output vs. Temperature
Science Fair Project Idea
Scientific Method
Solar cells provide a clean way of making electricity directly from sunlight. In this project you will build a simple circuit and experimental setup to investigate whether the power output of a solar cell changes with ambient temperature. Read more
Burning Biofuels: Comparing Nonrenewable and Renewable Fuels
Science Fair Project Idea
Scientific Method
Have you considered where the gasoline that your parents put in your car comes from and how long that source will last? The fuel that most vehicles use, gasoline, is a petroleum product. Petroleum is a fossil fuel and is a nonrenewable form of energy, meaning we use it faster than it is able to be reproduced. Burning fossil fuels also produces pollutants that might hurt our environment. Using a kind of fuel from a renewable source would help save Earth's natural resources and cut down on… Read more
Catch the Wave!
Science Fair Project Idea
Scientific Method
There is a lot of energy that can be harvested from moving water. Energy can be extracted from water rushing over a waterfall and from the regular patterns of the ocean's tides. The energy that propels waves forward in the oceans can also be extracted and used. But can wave energy power plants be built anywhere there is water? In this energy science fair project, you will use ocean buoy data and mathematics to determine which locations along the coasts of the United States can sustain a wave… Read more
Free Power from the Sun!
Science Fair Project Idea
Scientific Method
Do you like getting something for nothing? Everybody likes getting things for free. How about getting energy and power for free? The Sun sends us free energy every second and all we have to do is collect it. Taking advantage of free energy can reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, which are harmful to our environment. In this science fair project, you will work with a solar panel, which is a collector of free energy, and investigate how varying the angle of the solar panel, and thus the amount… Read more
From Trash to Gas: Biomass Energy
Science Fair Project Idea
Scientific Method
Have you ever dreamed of a world where you could take the scraps from last night's dinner and toss them into your car's fuel tank and make gas? Well, we're not quite in "Back to the Future" yet, but in this energy science fair project, you'll discover that food scraps, dead plants, sawdust, and other decaying organic matter, called biomass are a rich source of energy. You can get energy out of biomass by burning it, turning it into a liquid, or by turning it into a gas called biogas. You've… Read more
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