There are a lot of things that we do every day that consume more energy than we realize. One of those things is watching videos on the Internet. I did not know that until last week when I watched a Minute Earth video titled, This Video Has Consumed “X Amount” of Energy. The “x amount” is a reflection of the constantly changing title of the video. The more times it is watched, the more energy it consumes. Watch the video for the full explanation of how energy is used in delivering a web video to your screen.

Applications for Education
The video does a nice job of using AA batteries to illustrate how much energy is consumed by watching a video. AA batteries are objects with which most students are familiar in terms of how long they last in common electronic devices.

To continue the lesson have students use National Geographic’s Personal Energy Meter to see how much energy they consume. They might be surprised at how much energy they actually use.

Consider using VideoNotes to use this video as part of a flipped lesson. Learn how in this video.