Tracing Energy on a Camper-Van Trip

From the Road to the Tent Site

A camping club plans a two-night trip in a rented camper van. The van's engine burns gasoline to move the campers and their gear. At the tent site, the group uses rechargeable lights and communication devices. The campers want to learn where the energy for traveling and charging comes from. They collect resource information and make example charging records for a sunny day and a cloudy day.

Gasoline is made from crude oil, a liquid natural resource brought up through wells. Crude oil formed from ancient living things over millions of years. People use it much faster than nature makes more. A factory called a refinery processes oil into gasoline and other products. Delivering another tank of gasoline to a station does not make the underground oil supply grow back.

At camp, portable solar panels use sunlight to make electricity. Sunlight is a renewable resource: it is supplied again and again on a human timescale. The panels charge a battery, which stores energy for use after sunset. On cloudy days, the panels usually produce less electricity. An adult also uses a small gasoline generator outdoors, far from tents, doors, and windows. It makes electricity when the panels cannot supply enough. The battery stores electricity from either source; it does not create the energy it stores.

The club gathers environmental notes, too. Roads and drilling areas built to reach oil can remove plants and divide animal habitats. Oil spilled near wells or during transport can harm water and wildlife. Burning gasoline in engines releases gases and other air pollution. Solar panels make electricity without burning gasoline, but their metal parts require materials taken from the ground. Mining those materials can disturb land. For this trip, the campers can place portable panels on an existing gravel parking space or clear nearby shrubs for them.

The charging records count electricity supplied to the camp battery. They leave out gasoline burned while driving. The van stays parked during both recorded days, and the camp devices need the same total electrical energy each day.