Goals and Learning Objectives

TIPS was built with the following objectives:

Students will dynamically interact with real-time changes to the Texas power mix to learn the economic and environmental impacts of different fuels and technologies

Goals:

*students will interact with a dynamic,  objective, scientifically rigorous, and trustworthy teaching tool (or website)

*inspire self-guided learning through the layers of information and webpages

*students will synthesize the above information into broader lessons about tradeoffs related to energy (coupled with homework assignment)


Learning Objectives:

*select different fuel mixes for power generation in Texas

*explore the different technical pieces of information for each fuel and technology

*calculate and compare the costs:  1) capital costs of new powerplants, and 2) the operational, fuel and maintenance costs for different fuels and powerplants

*determine and compare the environmental impacts: 1)  the relative acreage required for powerplants and fuels production, 2)  the relative water use (in gallons per MWh of electricity generated) for different powerplants and fuels production, and 3) the relative emissions of CO2 and pollutants (in lbs per MWh of electricity generated) for different powerplants and fuels production

*download data sheets for further study