Req 7 — Choose Five Energy Systems
7.
Tell what is being done to make FIVE of the following energy systems produce more usable energy. In your explanation, describe the technology, cost, environmental impacts, and safety concerns.
You must choose exactly five of the nine options in this requirement. This page is here to help you decide which five will give you the strongest comparison and the most interesting discussion with your counselor.
Your Options
- Req 7a — Biomass & Waste-to-Energy: Learn how plants, food waste, and garbage can become fuel, heat, or electricity — and why pollution control matters.
- Req 7b — Combined Heat and Power: See how one fuel source can produce electricity and useful heat at the same time for greater overall efficiency.
- Req 7c — Modern Fossil Fuel Plants: Explore how engineers squeeze more efficiency out of coal and natural gas systems while trying to reduce emissions.
- Req 7d — Fuel Cells: Study a technology that makes electricity electrochemically instead of by burning fuel.
- Req 7e — Geothermal Power: Investigate how Earth’s internal heat can be turned into useful power.
- Req 7f — Nuclear Power: Compare how advanced reactor designs aim for high output with strong safety systems.
- Req 7g — Solar Power Systems: Look at how panels, tracking systems, storage, and improved materials help capture more sunlight.
- Req 7h — Ocean Energy Systems: Explore how tides, waves, and ocean temperature differences can be used — and why the ocean is such a tough engineering environment.
- Req 7i — Wind Turbines: Learn how larger rotors, better controls, and smarter siting help turbines capture more energy from moving air.
How to Choose
Choosing your five
Compare the options before you commit
- Time and familiarity: Solar, wind, fossil fuel plants, and nuclear often have lots of easy-to-find background information.
- Most different from each other: Choosing a mix like solar, nuclear, biomass, fuel cells, and ocean energy gives you stronger comparison points than choosing five very similar systems.
- What you will gain: Some options teach grid-scale power generation, some teach waste reduction, and some teach cutting-edge technology.
- Where trade-offs stand out: Nuclear, fossil fuels, biomass, and ocean energy are especially strong if you want rich discussions about environment, safety, and cost.
A balanced set many Scouts could use
One strong five-option mix is:
- solar power systems
- wind turbines
- nuclear power plants
- combined heat and power
- fuel cells
That group gives you a nice spread across mature systems, newer systems, renewable and nonrenewable sources, and very different engineering approaches.
You have your menu of options. Next comes the first one: how biomass digesters and waste-to-energy plants try to turn materials people often throw away into useful power.