📖 Chapter 1 of 9 · Green Energy - Basic 1 · Class 5–6
Chapter 1: Where Does Power Come From?
What is electricity?
Electricity is the power that makes our lights glow, our fans spin and our phones charge. We cannot see electricity itself, but we see all the wonderful things it does. It travels to our homes through wires.
Where can clean power come from?
Some power is made in ways that dirty the air with smoke. But clean, green power can come from the Sun, the wind and the flowing water — with no smoke at all. That is what this whole book is about.
Story Time — The Night the Lights Came On
Anaya · a village in Rajasthan
Anaya lived in a small village where, for a long time, the evenings were dark once the Sun went down. Then one day, workers came and put shiny blue panels on the roof of her school, and tall poles with spinning blades on the hill nearby.
That evening, something magical happened. A single bulb in her home flickered, then glowed warm and bright. “Light!” Anaya clapped. “Where did it come from, Ma?” Her mother smiled. “From the Sun and the wind, beta. They give us electricity now.”
“The Sun and the wind make the light?” Anaya asked, amazed. “The panels on your school drink the sunlight in the day,” her mother explained, “and the tall turbines on the hill spin in the wind. Both make clean electricity, and it travels through wires to our bulb.”
Anaya looked at the little glowing bulb as if it were a small captured star. She could read her book now, even after dark. “So the Sun helps me even at night?” she said. “In a way, yes,” her mother laughed. “The day's sunshine becomes your evening's light.”
That night, Anaya fell asleep happy, knowing the Sun and the wind were quietly working for her village. “Clean power,” she whispered, trying out the new words. “Power with no smoke.”
Story Time — Following the Wire
Kabir · Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh
Kabir was a curious boy who always wanted to know how things worked. One day he looked at the fan spinning above him and asked, “What makes it go round?” His grandfather pointed to the wall. “Follow the wire and find out.”
Kabir followed the wire from the fan to a switch, and from the switch into the wall. “Where does it go now?” he asked. “Out of the house,” his grandfather said, “through more wires, all the way to where the electricity is made.”
“And where is it made?” Kabir asked. “In many places,” said his grandfather. “Some from burning things, which makes smoke. But more and more of ours now comes from the Sun and the wind — clean power, with no smoke to dirty our air.”
Kabir imagined the invisible electricity rushing along the wires, all the way from a sunny solar farm into his spinning fan. “So the fan is really powered by the Sun?” “Today it may well be,” his grandfather said. “That is the beauty of green energy.”
From then on, whenever Kabir switched anything on, he pictured the long journey of the clean power — from the Sun and wind, along the wires, into his home. It made even a simple fan feel like a small wonder.
Solved Examples
Think first, then read the answer.
1. What is electricity?
Show answer
Answer: It is the power that makes our lights, fans and phones work. It travels to us through wires.
2. Can we see electricity?
Show answer
Answer: No, we cannot see electricity itself — but we can see everything it does, like a glowing bulb.
3. Name two clean ways to make power.
Show answer
Answer: From the Sun (solar panels) and from the wind (wind turbines).
4. What is 'clean' power?
Show answer
Answer: Power made with no smoke, so it does not dirty our air.
5. How does power reach our home?
Show answer
Answer: It travels through wires, all the way from where it is made.
Check Your Understanding
A. Fill in the blanks
- Electricity travels to our home through _______.
- Clean power can come from the Sun and the _______.
- A fan needs _______ to spin.
B. Yes or No
- We can see electricity itself. ( ___ )
- Solar panels use sunlight to make power. ( ___ )
- Clean power makes lots of smoke. ( ___ )
C. Talk about it
- Name three things at home that use electricity.
- Where do you think your home's power comes from?
Check your understanding
Tap an answer to see if it is correct. This is just for fun — nothing is saved.
1. What does electricity travel through to reach our home?
- Wires
- Water pipes
- The air
Show answer
A. Wires
2. Name a clean way to make power.
- Burning coal
- The Sun
- Smoke
Show answer
B. The Sun
3. Can we see electricity itself?
- Yes
- No, only what it does
- Only at night
Show answer
B. No, only what it does