Decarbonizing the Electric Grid

EcoRise mobilizes a new generation of leaders to design healthy, just, and thriving communities for all. We work at the intersection of sustainability education, climate resilience, and environmental justice by elevating youth voices and advancing student-led solutions to real-world challenges. We offer a range of curricula and programs for students, teachers, school districts, and partners, designed to advance environmental literacy, sustainable schools, and equitable access to green career pathways.

To learn more or access additional EcoRise lessons, visit our Curriculum Page or email support@ecorise.org.

From our Sustainable Intelligence Program:

In this lesson, students will explore what it takes to get to a low carbon energy future via an interactive web app. The first lesson discusses how energy systems currently work and highlights the importance of the electric grid in addressing climate change and reducing carbon emissions. It also prompts students to explore issues with managing intermittency of renewable resources and explore temporal patterns of energy use and generation. Students will then use an interactive webapp to design a low-carbon electric grid for the entire U.S. They will have to balance competing criteria – carbon emissions, costs, environmental impacts, and limits to the rate of infrastructure construction. Students will be forced to think critically about what it will take to get to a low-carbon energy future.