Short Form Coal Education Videos

Kentucky has vast energy resources in both fossil fuels and biomass, and will see the development of industries supporting energy storage, carbon capture, coal ash utilization and coal-to-liquids in coming decades. High school and post-secondary school students from all sectors may enter energy related careers, a broad understanding of the current and future issues relating to energy will be important to their success. These same students will be the Commonwealth’s future policy makers, business leaders and owners, and educators. In their lifetimes, they will likely oversee dramatic changes in our national energy infrastructure comparable to that undertaken at the turn of the previous century. It is critically important to engage these future politicians, engineers, designers, investors, and regulators in energy issues now. The Commonwealth of Kentucky provides funds out of the Unmined Mineral Taxes each year to support public education activities relating to coal utilization, economic relevance, and environmental impacts. One goal within the program is for the development of single subject documentary videos about current Kentucky coal-related issues. These short form videos will provide a balanced discussion of coal-related issues highlighting both the potential benefits and concerns of the technologies. As electronic devices continue on the path of replacing traditional books, developing multi-platform videos such as YouTube videos and mobile apps allows audiences to stream videos at their leisure. To increase public knowledge of the benefits and trade-offs of using coal, we are proposing to make 8 videos, an extensive website, and a mobile application app to disseminate the information to high school and post-secondary education students to increase their overall knowledge of coals use, importance, and environmental impacts. These videos will be available from the website, via the app (along with pertinent information from Kentucky Coal Facts, as well as via a YouTube channel dedicated to Kentucky Coal Education. Reaching this age group requires working within the same digital and media realm that they operate within. The free time of the average American of this age is typically spent involved in digital communication of some nature. We intend to create a multimedia project that is engaging, exciting and easily shared with friends and family.