Starting with a Solar-Powered Car: The Low-Carbon Journey of Junior Energy Detectives

At Hong Chi Morninglight School, Yuen Long, learning about energy can begin with a solar-powered car.

As the solar-powered car moves across the table, an abstract idea becomes visible. Nearby, an infrared camera reveals patterns of heat invisible to the naked eye.Through these simple experiences, students begin to explore a question rooted in everyday life: where do we encounter energy? How does it impact our lives? The answer may be closer to home than they think.

Energy is part of everyday life: in the light we switch on, the refrigerators and appliances in our homes, and the sunlight streaming into our classrooms. Energy is not confined to textbooks, laboratories or large-scale power generating stations. It is also closely connected to the choices people make every day.

For students at Hong Chi Morninglight School, Yuen Long, these hands-on activities offer a starting point for understanding energy in a new day. Rather than simply understanding facts, students develop their understanding through observation, hands-on activities and exploration. They also begin to notice details about energy use that they may previously have overlooked.

From Learning About Energy to Becoming Junior Energy Detectives

In October 2025, the Asian Energy Studies Centre (AESC) at Hong Kong Baptist University organized the Junior Energy Detectives activity at Hong Chi Morninglight School, Yuen Long. The programme brought together students from Hong Chi and HKBU’s Department of Geography to explore how energy is used in everyday life.

During the Junior Energy Detectives activity, HKBU students and Hong Chi students explored daily energy-saving habits through a scenario-based card game.

Armed with recording sheets, the students searched the school hall to identify and count the different types of electrical appliances. They also figured out which appliances were running and examined the heat emitted by different types of light bulbs. Also, the research team turned the scenarios about energy-use into interactive games, allowing students to estimate which kind of habits could help save more electricity.

The activity encouraged students to look more closely at their surroundings and notice the small details in everyday energy use that often are overlooked. In this process, saving energy began to take on more practical meaning and deepen children’s minds.

Students collaboratively built a "Smart Energy Community Model" using recycled materials, showcasing their imagination for a low-carbon future.

This is what the Junior Energy Detectives programme is aiming at: exploring energy does not require complicated technical knowledge. It can also begin with something much simpler - observing, asking questions and paying attention to the choices we make every day. Everyone can make the first step towards a lower-carbon way of life.

Bringing Energy Education into Everyday Life

From the Smart Energy Carnival to Junior Energy Detectives and the inclusive STEAM energy audit activities in Hong Chi, these experiences show how energy education can go beyond the basic concepts of cognition to encourage observation and practice-oriented learning.

An energy audit may sound like a highly technical exercise, involving specialised equipment, detailed calculations and professional expertise. It may seem far removed from everyday life, associated with complex procedures in the corporate world. Yet an energy audit can begin with a much simpler question: how do we use energy in our everyday lives? For example, are the lights switched off when we leave a room? Do appliances continue to consume electricity when they are not in use? Are there any habits that we could change to reduce unnecessary energy consumption?As students learn to observe how energy is used, they begin to see that saving energy is not beyond their reach.

The research team presented a colorful thermal image on stage, making invisible energy consumption and heat distribution visible to the students.

During a low-carbon education activity at the “SEE X Morninglight Yuen Long Energy Hub”, students used solar-powered cars and bubble machines to explore how solar energy can be converted into motion. They also operated infrared cameras to observe patterns of heat and capture their own thermal images. Finally, looking at the models and projects they had made themselves, many students smiled - we can all play a part in building a low-carbon future!

Small Changes, Meaningful Impact

Compared with broad social goals - reducing carbon emissions, improving energy efficiency and expanding renewables - ultimately depend on what happens in people’s everyday lives if they are to deliver lasting change.

At the low-carbon education event, students participated in interactive sensory games guided by volunteers and teachers.

For another activity, the research team designed a series of game cards based on some scenarios about everyday household energy-uses. Students were asked to decide which habits would save more electricity. Would it be better to make use of natural daylight rather than switch on the lights? And would it be more energy-efficient to run a washing machine with only two or three items of clothing, or wait until there is a full load?

By comparing the options, students began to see how they could put energy saving into practice in their daily lives.

Next, the students took on the role of “energy interviewers”, using question cards to interview their teachers: how large is the school hall? When is the air conditioning switched on?

Through these exchanges, students learned more about how energy is managed at school and began to take a more active interest in the way electricity is used around them. For Hong Chi Morninglight School, Yuan Long, the value of energy education goes beyond learning about power or energy auditing. More importantly, these activities give students opportunities to understand their surroundings through direct experience and to connect what they learn with their own lives and communities.

This collaboration also raises a broader question: if hands-on experiences can make energy easier to understand, could technology help more people taking part?

Involving More People in the Energy Transition

The energy education activities at Hong Chi Morninglight School, Yuen Long show how young people can begin to embrace low-carbon living. It starts with familiar things: a solar-powered car, an infrared camera, and a Junior Energy Detectives activity. From these simple experiences, learning can reach beyond the classroom and into the wider community.

HKBU students accompanied children from the Hong Chi Morninglight School, Yuen Long to a church in the Fairview Park community to conduct an "AI-assisted simplified energy audit."

Over 50 community women leaders and active residents gathered for a group photo after completing the "AI-assisted Simplified Energy Audit" training.

In Hong Kong, AESC is using its AI-SEA project to train women community leaders, young people and active residents to carry out AI-assisted simplified energy audits.

They can then share what they learnt with their families, neighbours and communities. As that knowledge is passed on, learning that begins in one household can gradually reach the wider community.

Imagining a future, where people can make better choices at home. Housewives, older residents and even primary school students all understand which appliances use the most electricity, how to use cooking equipment more efficiently and how to choose more eco-friendly furniture. These changes could help families lower their energy bills, and also make low-carbon living a more natural part of everyday community life.

When small changes become shared habits, a greener future becomes a collective achievement.