[Music] renewable energy h that's a term I keep hearing a lot about lately renewable energy is energy that comes from natural sources that can be used over and over again because they naturally refill themselves over time using renewable energy helps reduce pollution and slows down climate change i'm Mrs mask i did some research about two types of renewable energy solar power and hydro power i read an article from Michigan State University about the solar panels they use and also an article from a company that makes solar panels we'll look at what I found out after I share my information we'll use a graphic organizer called the vin diagram to help us compare using a vin diagram also supports us to comprehend or understand our information better a vin diagram has two circles that overlap in the middle where I will write what is alike or similar about the two kinds of renewable energy in the parts of the circle that do not overlap I will label one side hydro power and one side solar power and record or write what is different about them let's take a look at the three specific areas I focused on when researching hydro power and solar power you will see that listed on the vin diagram which makes it easier to compare the three things I looked at were reliability can we count on this type of energy always being available environmental impact is there a cost to the environment in other words can this type of energy do harm to the earth and growth potential can this type of energy be expanded to be more widely used around the world let's start with the information I found out about hydropower hydro power uses moving water to make electricity imagine a river flowing downhill when we build a dam we can use the force of that water to spin big wheels called turbines which makes electricity michigan has a lot of rivers and lakes so there are a lot of places where hydro power can be generated reliability hydro power is very reliable this means it works all the time day or night rain or shine as long as water is moving environmental impact even though hydro power doesn't cause air pollution it can change the way rivers work when we build dams it can be harder for fish to swim and sometimes it changes the river for animals and plants nearby growth potential michigan already uses many of the rivers that are good for hydropower so it would be hard to build many more big hydropower plants now what is solar power solar power uses energy from the sun to make electricity solar panels are big flatboards made of special materials that collect sunlight and turn it into power we can put solar panels on rooftops or in open spaces like fields reliability solar power depends on the sun so it doesn't work at night and makes less power on cloudy days in Michigan it's not sunny every day of the year so solar panels are unable to always work well environmental impact solar power is gentle on the environment the panels don't cause any pollution and they don't change rivers or habitats once installed they just sit there quietly and collect sunlight growth potential there is a lot of room to add more solar power in Michigan it's getting cheaper to make and install solar panels and we have a lot of rooftops and open land that can hold solar panels now that we've reviewed reliability environmental impact and growth potential for both hydro power and solar power we're ready to compare them side by side with our vin diagram first let's start with the main difference between the two types of energy which is right in their names let's move on to reliability now environmental impact they're alike in two ways under this [Music] category rivers can change because of hydro power and makes it harder for fish to swim and can even affect nearby animals and plants what about growth potential let's look at what we know about renewable energy as a whole these items can go in the middle of our diagram because they are true for both hydro power and solar power from our vin diagram we can see the similarities and differences of hydro power and solar power in a way that makes it very easy to compare them and understand them what would you do with this information i can use this to help me understand the differences or to talk to others about them and maybe even write a persuasive essay about which one we should look into for our great state of Michigan next time you're learning about and doing research on two different concepts try using a vin diagram to help you better understand them thank you for joining us if you want more fun ways to practice literacy skills don't forget to subscribe to the Michigan Learning channel and be sure to check the description below for links to activity guides resources and more [Music] [Applause]