Energy Merit Badge

Eight requirements drawn so that requirement 1 appears at both ends of the plan, where the badge actually puts it, and so the fourteen-day log is visible from the start rather than at the point it is numbered.

9 steps (26 parts inside them). 9 parts depend on questions you have not answered yet. · Version 1, published 13 August 2026 · About Energy Merit Badge

No questions answered

This is the whole plan: everything that could apply to anybody. Answering the question at the address above takes out the parts that are not for you.

Which of this applies to you

You have not answered anything yet, so this is the whole plan: everything that could apply to anybody. Answering one question will take out the parts that are not for you.

Answer the questions

The steps

Stage 1 of 9

1 step

1. The bracket around the whole badge Often forgotten Requirement

Two parts that cannot be done together. The first is twenty minutes at the beginning; the second is explicitly gated on requirements 2 through 8 being finished, which makes it the last thing on the badge.

THIS REQUIREMENT CANNOT BE TICKED OFF IN ONE SITTING, AND IT IS THE ONLY ONE ON THE BADGE LIKE THAT. Part (a) is twenty minutes at the beginning. Part (b) opens "After you have completed requirements 2 through 8", so it is the last thing you will do on this badge, not part of the first thing. Requirement 1 is a bracket around the whole badge rather than a short opening step, and a Scout who does both parts in week one and marks requirement 1 complete has not met part (b) at all.
2 parts
- 1(a). Find a source on energy use or conservation, and discuss it Often forgotten CHOOSE THIS SOURCE CAREFULLY AND KEEP THE LINK, BECAUSE YOU ONLY GET ONE. Requirement 1(b) says "revisit YOUR SOURCE", meaning this exact one, months later. The closing discussion is built on the difference between what you understood then and what you understand at the end, so a short news item you followed easily on the first reading leaves you nothing to say. The requirement even tells you what to aim for: it asks which ideas the source addresses THAT YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND. Pick something over your head on purpose, and save the link somewhere you will still have it at the end of the badge.
- 1(b). Revisit that same source, once everything else is done Often forgotten Usually comes after 1(a). Find a source on energy use or conservation, and discuss it, 2. Energy forms and conversions: explain three, then build one and 6 others.

Stage 2 of 9

1 step

2. Energy forms and conversions: explain three, then build one Requirement

Both parts.
2 parts
- 2(a). Explain how THREE devices use energy, and their conversions
- 2(b). Build a system that makes at least two energy conversions

Stage 3 of 9

1 step

3. Energy efficiency: take one everyday system apart in four ways Requirement

Explain a common example of energy moving through a system to produce a useful result, then answer all four parts below about that same system.
4 parts

Stage 4 of 9

1 step

4. Audit your home, and keep a fourteen-day log Often forgotten Requirement

An energy audit of your home plus a 14-day log recording what you and your family did to reduce energy use, then a discussion after the fourteen days are up. It involves your household, so it needs a conversation before it starts.

START THIS IN WEEK ONE. It is a fourteen-day log and fourteen days cannot be compressed. Everything numbered after it (five examples of energy waste, five pie charts, five energy systems, and careers) is desk work that is not blocked by the log and can be done while it runs. Reach requirement 4 in its numbered position and it adds two weeks to the end of the badge; start it first and it costs nothing. It also records what YOU AND YOUR FAMILY did, so it needs a conversation with your household before day one.
2 parts
- 4(a). List your home energy types and costs, or track a vehicle instead
- 4(b). How your family could use energy more wisely

Stage 5 of 9

1 step

5. Five examples of energy waste near you, and the trade-offs Requirement

In a notebook, identify and describe five examples of energy waste in your school or community, with a possible fix for each, plus the idea of trade-offs in energy use. Both parts below apply to those five.
2 parts
- 5(a). How your suggested changes would improve things
- 5(b). What habits would have to change, and why people resist

Stage 6 of 9

1 step

6. Five pie charts, and where the numbers came from Requirement

Prepare all five charts below, explain the important idea each one reveals, say where you got your information, and explain how cost affects the use of a nonrenewable resource and makes alternatives practical.
5 parts

Stage 7 of 9

1 step

7. Choose FIVE energy systems from nine, and research each Requirement

For each of the five: what is being done to make it produce more usable energy, plus the technology, the cost, the environmental impacts and the safety concerns. Four things about each, so twenty pieces of research.
9 parts
- 7(a). Biomass digesters or waste-to-energy plants Optional May not apply
- 7(b). Cogeneration plants Optional May not apply
- 7(c). Fossil fuel power plants Optional May not apply
- 7(d). Fuel cells Optional May not apply
- 7(e). Geothermal power plants Optional May not apply
- 7(f). Nuclear power plants Optional May not apply
- 7(g). Solar power systems Optional May not apply
- 7(h). Tidal, wave or ocean thermal energy conversion Optional May not apply
- 7(i). Wind turbines Optional May not apply

Stage 8 of 9

1 step

8. Three careers in energy, then one researched in full Requirement

Training, education, certification, experience and expenses, then prospects, starting salary, advancement and career goals. There is no hobby alternative on this badge.

Stage 9 of 9

1 step

Counselor signs it off Milestone

The completion date is the date you met the requirements, not the date of the signature.

Usually comes after 1(b). Revisit that same source, once everything else is done.

Merit badge requirements are republished annually. A Scout beginning work uses the requirements as they stand then; a Scout already working may finish under the ones they started with. Guide to Advancement 7.0.4.3 governs which applies. This page records the date its copy was read. Check it against the official page before relying on it.

This plan is a planning aid: the current Boy Scouts of America publication is always the authority, and the sources used here are listed in full. Each step names its own.