Overline: Education

Headline: Learning about Carbon: IASS Develops Educational Resource

The “Future Box: Carbon” developed by the IASS in cooperation with Berlin’s Futurium Museum offers school pupils an exciting and hands-on introduction to climate change and raw materials. This learning resource is suitable for use in classes from 8th Grade up and for all school types. The Future Box can be used in different subjects and will help to build awareness of sustainable development issues.

30.10.2019

Carbon compounds are primarily used as fuels. However, they are also used in the manufacturing of a wide range of products, and particularly in the chemical industry. Carbon is all around us in everyday life: it is used in the manufacturing of lunch boxes, laptops, mobile phones, and even our clothing. Pharmaceutical products and fertilizers are also carbon-based.

Carbon is a vital raw material for many industries and our modern society. The industrial demand for carbon is currently met largely through fossil resources such as oil, natural gas and coal. In future, we will need to increase the share of carbon from renewable sources and recycle carbon on a large scale in order to mitigate the climate crisis and address the dependency of some countries on this resource. The learning materials in the Future Box enable pupils to learn about the role of carbon in our everyday lives and the impacts of individual actions and those of industry, as well as about alternative sources of carbon such as CO2 and biomass.

The Future Box: Carbon

contains six sets of high-quality cards
is suitable for teams of five children
is designed for use in classrooms from 8th Grade upwards
features a modular, interdisciplinary structure and can be used in a variety of ways in the classroom

Additional learning materials are available for download https://co2inside.de/glossar-und-downloads/, including suggestions on how the Future Box card sets can be used in the classroom.

Free educational resource

The Future Box: Carbon is available free of charge from the IASS. Our researchers will be visiting school classes in the Berlin/Potsdam area through to the 2019 Christmas holidays to workshop the Future Box: Carbon. Educators wishing to invite one of our researchers into their classroom should contact Barbara Olfe-Kräutlein.

On this topic

Dossiers

Der Chemiekonzern Bayer stellt bereits Produkte aus CO2 her.

Economic activities and consumer behaviour in developed countries are currently based mainly on the use of fossil-based raw materials, and their emissions are largely responsible for anthropogenic climate change. In efforts to reduce human effects on the climate, the avoidance of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is and remains the most important measure. But high CO2 emissions go hand in hand with a demand for carbon in the form of many of the goods that we need on a daily basis, for example for the production of plastics or fuels. Can it therefore make sense to consider the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) as a source of carbon? Since the 1970s, scientists have been researching carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technologies. The aim of these technologies is to re-cycle the CO2 contained in emissions as a feedstock for industrial processes. This captured CO2 could replace fossil-based carbon as a component of materials and energy carriers, thereby creating a carbon cycle.

Prototyp eines supraleitenden Stromkabels.

In the coming decades, the development of renewable energy sources (RES) such as wind and solar will play a major role in reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and making our energy system more sustainable. But the places where RES are available or would be most efficient are often located far away from the densely populated and industrial areas where the energy is needed: on the open sea in the case of offshore wind and in sunnier climes in the case of solar. This means that the construction of new power lines needs to go hand in hand with RES development. In Germany for instance, expanding the electrical grid has become a crucial precondition for the success of the Energiewende.

News

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Green hydrogen is considered a promising energy resource.

To reach climate neutrality, Europe’s industry will need large quantities of carbon-neutral hydrogen in the future. Many European countries, including Germany, are planning large investments to develop and ramp up the hydrogen industry needed for this. Within the HyPat research project, a new study by RIFS Potsdam, Fraunhofer ISI and the German Energy Agency (dena) makes five recommendations to the EU and the Member States.

Green hydrogen will likely play a crucial role in the global energy transition. RIFS Fellow Beatriz Couto Ribeiro is assessing the opportunities for Latin American economies to enter green hydrogen value chains. In this interview, she explains her research.

Overline: Education

Headline: Learning about Carbon: IASS Develops Educational Resource

The Future Box: Carbon

Free educational resource

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Sabine Letz