Energy Generation and Storage
Not how electricity is made, but what should power the product in front of you. Reading the constraint out of a brief, then arguing the choice.
Revise this, the fun way
Play it interactively, earn XP and build a streak, free.
Start revising freeWhat you'll cover
A different question 🔌
A science paper asks how electricity is generated. **This one does not.** Design and Technology asks what should power the product in front of you, and why that source and not another. The marks live in the *why*. A list of energy sources earns almost nothing; a reasoned choice for a given brief earns the question. So the sources below are worth knowing for what they let you build, not for their own sake.
Where the energy comes from 🗂️
Know each one by what it means for a designer:
Match each source to what it means for a design
- Solar
- Tidal
- Fossil fuels
- Wind
- can be built into a small product, but the output depends on the light
- can be predicted years ahead, but only works as a large installation
- gives high output on demand, but is finite and high carbon
- costs nothing to fuel, but the output rises and falls with the weather
The first decision ⚖️
Before any source is chosen, one question settles most of the design: **does this product have to work away from a socket?**
Which sentence decides it? ✍️
An interactive activity.
What powers the sign? ❓
That garden sign has no mains supply, needs to light the path after dark, and sits outdoors all year. What is the sensible choice?
- A solar cell charging a rechargeable battery during the day
- A solar cell powering the light directly
- A mains supply run out to the sign
- Disposable cells, replaced by a volunteer each month
The five selection factors 🎛️
Every question on this topic is answered with the same five, so learn them as a checklist: **Portability** - must it work away from a supply? **Power output** - can the source deliver what the product actually draws? **Circuit and system connections** - can it physically connect to what you are designing? **Environmental impact** - fuel, materials, and what happens at the end of its life. **Cost** - to buy, and to run over the product's lifetime. **Never list all five and stop.** Name the one or two that the brief makes decisive, and say why the others matter less here. That is the difference between a describe answer and an evaluate one.
How long will it run? 🔋
An interactive activity.
Order the selection 🪜
An interactive activity.
Three products 🧭
An interactive activity.
Which factors decide it? ✅
For that river sensor, select the TWO selection factors that genuinely decide the answer.
- Portability, because there is no supply anywhere near the site
- Power output and how long it must last between visits
- The appearance of the housing
- The adhesive chosen to assemble the casing
The summary 📝
In Design and Technology the question is not how electricity is made, but what should power a _____ product. Mains gives unlimited running time but fixes the product's _____. A battery makes it portable but has a limited _____. The five selection factors are portability, environmental impact, power output, circuit connections and _____. And the marks come from a reasoned argument for the given brief, never from a _____ of sources.
Your turn 📄
An interactive activity.