2024 marks the 12th annual Power Pledge Challenge (PPC), an initiative aimed at helping youth better understand energy use. Participating classes have the opportunity to complete monthly and semester-long challenges from August to November 2024 related to energy efficiency and conservation such as pledging to reduce their energy use, completing a community energy profile, and creating an energy public service announcement.
Monthly and semester-end prizes can be earned by participating classes in these regions (based on the utility or regional partner in parenthesis):
- Anchorage and Upper Kenai (Chugach Electric)
- Mat-Su and Eagle River (Matanuska Electric)
- Interior (Golden Valley Electric)
- Juneau (Alaska Electric Light & Power)
- Kotzebue (Kotzebue Electric)
- Bering Strait (Kawerak)
- Alaska Village Electric Cooperative (AVEC) Communities
Registration currently closed for 2024. Check back in August 2025 for next year’s Challenge.
Are you a teacher or youth group leader interested in participating? Home school students, extracurricular clubs, or other youth groups, are all welcome to participate. If your community gets electricity from one of the below utility sponsors, you are invited to join! Each class/group is its own competition group, or you can combine smaller classes/groups into one (up to 40 students per competitive group), whatever you prefer. Just complete one registration form per teacher/adult leader. The minimum participation level is to receive a presentation and have students pledge to reduce their energy use. You can do more challenges for a chance to win bigger prizes – check out the “Challenges” section below for more. Questions? Email Colleen Fisk.
Earn Points, Win Prizes
Earn points by completing challenges between August and November. There are points that can be earned anytime during that period and monthly challenges that need to be submitted by the end of the month. Each month, each teacher signed up will receive the next month’s challenge. Read more about the challenges below and keep an eye on your inbox for the monthly challenge.
Benefits
Each month a winner is chosen from those who complete the monthly challenge, and at the end of the semester, seven regional and one state prize are chosen based on the number of points earned throughout the year. Monthly prizes are $100 worth of goodies for the students, plus some swag from PPC partners. In December, each region will award a pizza party (and a tour of a power plant if possible) to the top points-earning class in their area. The top points-earning class in the state will also earn about $1,200 worth of supplies from NEED.org.
The activities in the Power Pledge Challenge are designed to increase students’ energy literacy in an engaging way. You can choose when and how to do these activities in a way that fits with your classroom/group schedule. You also have the opportunity to have expert guest speakers into your classroom at no cost.
Semester long challenges
| Points | Description |
| 5 | Sign up by September 15th |
| 50 | Presentation from one of the PPC partners |
| 30 | Students in the class/group complete the pledge and assessment to reduce their energy use |
| 10 | Per teacher recruited |
| 30 | For each AK EnergySmart lesson implemented in the classroom (other than partner presentation) |
| 40 | Presentation from elder about history of energy in community (or other energy topic) |
| 50 | Complete an energy assessment of a school or other large facility |
| 25 | For each action implemented in the school/classroom to reduce energy or waste |
| 75 | Students attend clean energy or related conference |
| 50 | Students complete the post-assessment |
Monthly challenges
Each challenge is open from the first of the month until the last day of the month. The challenges are listed here are the general outline for each month. You can prepare or start working on them earlier, but submission for the challenges will only be accepted during that month. Send in one submission per class/group. It is recommended that students work on this individually or as a group (either for in class work or as extra credit), and then the teacher submits just one file from the group.
Each monthly challenge submission is worth 25 points.
| Month | Description |
| August | Community Energy Profile |
| September | Energy Awareness PSA (Video, flyer, or other visual media) |
| October | Energy Career Profile |
| November | Energy efficient holiday decorations (photo and description) |
History of the PPC
In 2013, Chugach Electric Association partnered with Renewable Energy Alaska Project (REAP) and Alaska Energy Authority (AEA) to start the first annual energy challenge for middle school students leading up to Energy Awareness Month in October. It was originally called “Watt’s Up or Down” and was piloted in three schools. Since then, the name has changed to Power Pledge Challenge (PPC) and we reach eight regions in the state (Anchorage, Mat-Su/Eagle River, Kenai Peninsula, Fairbanks, Bering Strait, Lower Kuskokwim, Cordova, and Southeast) with support from 11 partners. Learn more, and see previous winners, by clicking below.
Learn more