Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

5 minutes

Tune In: What is the Kidston Renewable Energy Hub?

15 minutes

Find Out: Sustainability and ethical factors in the clean energy sector

35 minutes

Take Action: Create a job advertisement for an ethical and sustainable renewable energy hub

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions and success criteria

Students will:

learn about the occupations involved in the Kidston Renewable Energy Hub
understand some of the ethical and sustainability factors relevant to professions in the clean energy sector.

Students can:

investigate roles in the clean energy sector
outline some of the ethical and sustainability responsibilities for jobs in the clean energy sector
present job roles in the clean energy sector.

Tune In: What is the Kidston Renewable Energy Hub?

Step 1

Watch the following video:

Repurposing a disused gold mine with a pumped storage hydroelectric power plant - Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) -(https://youtu.be/Ledf91zU3g8?si=2MGrXhDbBFU4pfQq)

Step 2

Ask students to turn to the person next to them and discuss:

What is the Kidston Renewable Energy Hub?
What was there historically?
What renewable energy types are there in this hub?

List students’ responses on the whiteboard and discuss them as a class.

Find Out: Sustainability and ethical factors in the clean energy sector

In this section, students will understand what being ethical and sustainable means. Depending on your students’ abilities, explaining these words in a relatable context may be worthwhile. For example, ask students if they have ever made sure someone younger than them hasn’t lost their spot in the canteen line at school. Point out that this act is not just about kindness. Students may have done this out of fairness because younger students may be smaller and not be able to defend their space as well as bigger people. This example may help your students understand ethics. Explain how this also allows us to be sustainable. For example, young people may not thrive if they are not cared for, which may affect our future community and resources.

Step 1

Invite the class to explain what they think being ethical means. List students’ responses on the whiteboard. You may want to elicit answers along the lines of:

telling the truth
treating others with respect and kindness
following rules and laws
being fair.

Step 2

Remind students of the video they just watched about the Kidston Energy Hub. Ask them to predict how ethics might relate to scoping, building and operating this infrastructure.

Highlight jobs that help ensure ethical practices, such as community engagement officers and workplace safety advisors, and what they both do.

The Community Engagement Team supports delivering renewable energy projects that align with community expectations. Landowners and the community are vital in planning and delivering renewable energy projects. The team engages with communities to understand and act on their concerns. This is particularly critical when working with Indigenous communities to negotiate land use in the transition to renewables. The team helps communities and energy providers work together to benefit both parties and minimise negative impacts (Source: The Future Energy Jobs Guide).
The Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) Team ensures health and safety is embedded across the organisation. The team implements safety management systems to minimise the risks in the workplace, ensure work health and safety issues are dealt with fairly, and helps businesses and workers achieve a healthier and safer working environment (Source: The Future Energy Jobs Guide).

Project this list of Virtues and Character Traits on the whiteboard and encourage students to identify which best suit people's skills in these roles.

Step 3

Now, invite the class to explain what they think being sustainable means. List students’ responses on the whiteboard. You may want to elicit answers along the lines of:

using resources in a way that doesn’t harm the environment
maintaining things so that future generations can also enjoy and use them
recycling and reusing materials
using renewable energy like solar and wind power instead of fossil fuels
conserving water and electricity
planting trees and protecting wildlife.

Remind students of the video they just watched about the Kidston Energy Hub. Ask them to predict how sustainability might relate to scoping, building and operating this infrastructure.

Highlight jobs that help ensure sustainability, such as Conservation Officers and Ecologists, and what they both do.

Conservation Officers ensure native and endangered species do not lose their habitat. They promote sustainable practices and design strategies to protect ecosystems through activities such as habitat restoration after the decommissioning of energy-generating assets (Source: The Future Energy Jobs Guide).
Ecologists study the relationship between plants, animals and their environment. They collect and analyse data to assess future energy systems' impacts on wildlife and natural resources. They work to minimise environmental damage, conserve species, design more sustainable practices and advise organisations on ecological policies (Source: The Future Energy Jobs Guide).

Again, refer to the list of Virtues and Character Traits and encourage students to identify which best suits people's skills in these roles.

Take Action: Create a job advertisement for an ethical and sustainable renewable energy hub

Step 1

Arrange students into groups of 3 or 4 and advise that they will build an ethical and sustainable renewable energy hub, just like the Kidston Energy Project. Their task is to employ people to build and run the hub.

Ask groups to brainstorm ideas about what they think an ethical and sustainable renewable energy hub should consider and feature. To help students think ethically and sustainably, you can prompt them with the following information:

Sustainability and ethics in the context of development should consider:
- Social factors – health and wellbeing, quality of life and histories of communities, fair pay
- Environmental factors – carbon footprints and emissions, local ecology, land management
- Economic factors – competition, job and profit generation, costings

After groups have completed their brainstorming, invite them to share some of their ideas with the class.

Step 2

Assign 3 roles to each group that a renewable energy hub would employ. These have been arranged for you so that there is 1 ethical-related job, 1 sustainability-related job, and 1 job from another area, such as electrics or construction.

Ask students to choose a fourth role based on the case studies listed below or from The Future Energy Jobs Guide. (https://www.publications.qld.gov.au/ckan-publications-attachments-prod/resources/57272966-0265-4a95-87b4-fcbc92a30ed6/future-energy-jobs-guide-interactive-pdf-version-final.pdf?ETag=0aa487ce72a1cf5b5cfb991edf3eb93c)

Group 1	Community Engagement Advisor Hydrographer Structural Engineer
Group 2	Indigenous Engagement Advisor Site Engineer Conservation Officer
Group 3	Occupational Health and Safety Practitioner Mechanical Engineer Ecologist
Group 4	Public Relations Advisor Solar Installer Meteorologist
Group 5	Health and First Aid Officer Fluvial Geomorphologist Power Generation Engineer
Group 6	Training and Development Officer Electrician Environmental Research Scientist

Distribute each group's allocated roles by using the Roles Information Cards so they can learn about them in more detail. You can print these out, or students can look at them online.

Share the following links to case studies so groups can research and choose the fourth role they need.

Future Energy Jobs Guide (you could print out the 8 job categories on page 8 and staple them separately so it is easy to share the 1 document)
Martine, Community Engagement Advisor (https://careersfornetzero.org.au/champions/community-engagement-advisor/)
Caitlin, Engineer (https://careersfornetzero.org.au/champions/engineer/)
Alyssa, Hydrographer (https://www.cleanenergycouncil.org.au/news/cadetship-provides-trail-blazing-opportunity)
Gurpinger, Site Engineer, Kidston Pumped Hydro, QLD (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1bnhtQlbVQ)
Karina, Senior Power Generation Engineer (https://www.cleanenergycouncil.org.au/news/it-all-starts-with-the-right-piece-of-land)

Step 3

Once students understand their 3 allocated roles and their chosen fourth one, groups need to create an advertisement to attract people to apply for these 4 roles in their renewable energy hub. Students could use A3 paper to create a poster by hand, or make their posters digitally. Advise groups to write the position descriptions and responsibilities in dot points and to avoid long sentences. Give students the following list of information to include on their poster:

specific sustainable or ethical activities/actions that are part of the roles
how the roles contribute to the environmental impact and/or how local and First Nations communities are engaged
the long-term social and/or economic benefits to the community as part of working in the roles
the day-to-day responsibilities, eg a day in the life of X role
location(s) of the roles, eg in an office or on a site
education background, ie any degrees, certificates, training or experience required
character strengths and traits required
skills required, eg collaborating, problem-solving, writing, creativity, etc.

Remind students to use their own words and to paraphrase.

Step 4

Once groups have completed their posters, depending on the time available, you could display them around the classroom and conduct a gallery walk, have groups present the posters to other groups, or run role-play scenarios where students apply for a job that piques their interest and are interviewed.

Extension opportunity: ask students to choose a role of interest and map out their journey through education to get there. Get them to look at entrance requirements into a training organisation or university.

Reflection

As an exit ticket, get students to write down a role they are interested in and why.

Ethics and Sustainability in Renewable Energy Careers

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Summary

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