Make a brew and share your view

Brrr, it’s pretty cold outside… time to come inside for a nice hot drink … and … whilst you’re sipping or supping, please can you spend a couple of minutes helping us build our Young Climate Warriors story …  after all, it’s World Book Day this week  … and YOU are a key part of our story!

Please click on our children’s questionnaire, the parents' version … or our special teachers' questionnaire. It’ll take you less than 3 minutes, and we only ask you once a year –LISTENING TO WHAT YOU THINK is really important to us! THANK YOU!!

Back to the challenge … this week, can you help make your parent or carer a hot drink? Help reduce carbon emissions by only boiling as much water as you need! It’s crucial that you remember to ask your parent/carer before using the kettle!

It only takes a few minutes to boil a kettle so it can’t use that much energy, right? Well actually, kettles need a strong ‘blast of energy’. An average kettle uses as much energy in the 3 minutes or so it takes to boil a litre of water as an energy-efficient LED light bulb uses in ten hours!

When it comes to making that cuppa, you might need to do some experimenting with measurements first. Some kettles have a measuring gauge on the side, like a ruler … do you know how big your mugs are? Can you fill them with cold water and then pour this into a measuring jug to find out? If your kettle doesn’t have a measuring gauge you might need to pour the cold water from your mug into the kettle to get just the right amount.

Did you know a spike in energy demand can be seen when a popular TV show finishes and people around the country all jump up and put their kettle on at the same time. This is called a ‘TV pick-up’. The biggest spike ever – equivalent to more than a million kettles being turned on at the same time - came in 1990, after England were knocked out of the Football World Cup in the semi-finals.

Remember to HIT THE RED BUTTON when you have brewed a lovely cuppa, and helped lower your family’s carbon emissions – little by little, a little becomes a lot!