Energy Leaderboard + Worksheet

A classroom activity where students calculate the carbon from a utiltiy bill and rank the emissions in a group leaderboard.

Kids
Classrooms
Available in Earth Doctors

The Energy Leaderboard + Worksheet is a classroom activity that helps students connect their everyday energy use to climate change by calculating the emissions associated with their household electricity consumption. Using information from a utility bill, students estimate their home's carbon footprint and identify practical actions they can take to reduce energy use over time.

The activity combines personal carbon tracking with a classroom leaderboard that allows students to celebrate progress and compare results as a group. Drawing on behavioral science principles including feedback loops, goal setting, social norms, and friendly competition, the program transforms abstract emissions data into a visible and motivating challenge.

By making energy use measurable and providing regular opportunities to track improvement, students gain a deeper understanding of how household behaviors influence climate outcomes. The classroom leaderboard creates positive social reinforcement while encouraging participants to experiment with conservation actions and share ideas with their families. The result is an engaging learning experience that builds climate literacy, agency, and real-world emissions reductions beyond the classroom.

Available in Earth Doctors

Psychology Techniques

Disclosure

When the government enforces mandatory disclosure of environmental impact in the form of a label or sticker that must be displayed at the point of sale.

Groups

Putting people into groups as a way to create accountability, social cohesion, and social diffusion that leads to persistent behavior change.

Identity

Ways to enhance people's environmentally conscientious identity is a foundation to persistent intrinsic motivation.

Social Comparison

Comparing an objective measure of one person or entity's environmental score against others or against the group average.

Social Diffusion

The mechanism of how behaviors, values, and preferences spread from one person to another via social contact.

Tracking Progress

A mechanism for tracking progress towards a goal that brings attention to, and rewards progress.

Time-Based Challenge

Applying a specific start and end date for a behavior increases people's propensity to commit to the action.