CLEAN ENERGY FUTURE [PBL-LAB + 2050 Workout]

Funded in part by Selected Corporate Sponsors [TBA] and The Russell Family Foundation

Problem Statement: What are the most effective solutions across sectors, systems, and scales for managing the relationship between energy conservation, generation, distribution, and storage? What role can students play in designing and amplifying these solutions to ensure a clean energy future?

Why you should attend…

• You use electricity from the power grid.
• You know that energy consumption is a HUGE contributor to our carbon footprint.
• You love it when your students are authentically engaged.
• You love identifying real-world contexts for meeting academic standards.
• You are personally fascinated by intersectional challenges like this one.
• You value a clean energy future.

About the Lab: You flip the switch in the kitchen and the lights come on. You adjust the thermostat and the furnace fires up. But is the way we generate electricity and heat compatible with a sustainable future? Are the buildings we live, learn, and work in as energy efficient as they could be? When energy consumption is typically about 40-45% of a city's carbon footprint, and we need to get to 0%, where do we start? This Lab is an ongoing practicum, convening technical experts, teachers, student leaders, and community champions to figure out how to create an energy future that is 100% clean. Will it be through innovation in policy, technology, consumer behavior, or economics? Together, we will explore, build, and refine the very best problem-based, place-based learning opportunities for applying sustainable systems design at four scales - Household, Neighborhood, City, Bioregion, and through five systems lenses - Equitable Outcomes, Engineering Design, Economic Development, Ecosystem Services, and Educating for Sustainability. Learn how to align academic rigor with community problem-solving.

PRACTICE  The fundamentals of problem-based, place-based learning

ANALYZE   Climate science in context of local solutions

APPLY   Systems thinking to identify solutions, track impact, report to stakeholders

COACH   Student Impact Projects aligned with city climate action plans

DESIGN   Lessons for application in your classroom

EXPLORE   Career profiles of people who are working on solving this problem

Associated Standards and Frameworks

• OSPI - Environmental Sustainability Standards
• NGSS - High School Human Sustainability Standards 
• OSPI - Social Studies Standards for Civics, Economics, Geography, History,
• College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies
• Common Core State Standards - English Language Arts/Literacy and Mathematics

What is the 2050 Workout?

Student leaders participate in the PBL Lab along with teachers, but through a parallel, youth-led track focused on a fascinating thought experiment, “What would it be like to achieve 100% sustainability in our communities by the year 2050?” Students self-organize in research, facilitation, and presentation teams to prepare for the 2050 Update on August 26, our annual livestream event attracting thousands of viewers from across the nation. Student Ambassadors, invited peers, and our team of Sustainable Systems Coaches facilitate a different focus associated with each of the summer PBL Labs. In exploring one system in depth, the intersectionality among systems is revealed with a special emphasis on equity outcomes and climate change action. How fast can we generate the best solutions? What are the prototypes and tipping points already in play? What would it actually look like if we succeed?