Green Idea Factory
A guest blog written by Amy Constant, Program Associate of NEED
The Project for Innovation, Energy & Sustainability (PiES) held the first annual Green Idea Factory Competition on April 14th as part of the 2012 North Carolina Science Festival. Students from Lake Norman area high schools presented a number of energy efficiency and other green project ideas. Scholarship Awards are awarded for First and Second Place, Honorable Mention and Most Popular.
Kathleen Rose did a wonderful job organizing and planning the activities. She invited me to the kick-off presentation in January to talk about the free curriculum NEED has on-line. The students were doing projects on a variety of energy topics, all of which NEED covers to some extent. I was invited back to be a judge for the students final projects – they made a lot of progress in four months!
From a teacher’s point of view, this was a wonderful contest for the students. They weren’t asked to reword someone else’s work – the groups had to be original and come up with their own idea. They had to communicate their idea with a poster, a one-page written summary and a ten-minute oral presentation. What a great way for students to use higher level thinking skills and creativity!
I was thrilled to see one group show their multiple prototypes, illustrating their design process and explaining the tests they had done and why they had decided to revise each model. One student did an amazing job making sure he covered everything on the scoring rubric the students had received. One pair used humor and a questioning technique to make their presentation more interesting. A couple of groups were focusing on others; one wants to help developing nations and another wants to educate elementary children. Another was trying to find productive uses of items in landfills. What a great group of kids!
The students didn’t stop impressing me…even after they left the presentation room. The majority stuck around to look at the other student’s projects. One young lady found partially full bottles of water that had been abandoned. Instead of leaving them there for some adult to clean up, she dumped the extra water on the plants outside (instead of just down the drain), then recycled the bottles. It was wonderful to see that the kids were actually interested in the science AND practiced what they preached about recycling and the environment!
And the winners are…
1st Place: Zachary Kennedy, a freshman from Hough High School presented the Solar Composter, an invention that through use of a solar panel heating system optimizes the composting process so that it can be used year round, while preventing weeds and parasites.
2nd Place: Austin Bruckner and Scott Krabath, sophomores from the Community School of Davidson created a unique prototype wind turbine, influenced by modern architecture, which harnesses wind energy to create electricity.
Honorable Mention: David Keener, a junior from Woodlawn School won Honorable Mention with his six-watt portable solar battery charger, providing clean, consistent, and convenient renewable energy.
Most Popular: Ashley Ernest and Bekah Conner from the Community School of Davidson won the most votes for their eco-friendly trashcan, a devise that needs no trash bags and therefore saves petroleum products daily.
Tour de Energy Bike
A guest blog written by DaNel Hogan, Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow, Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy
The Tour de Energy Bike continued today at Lewisdale Elementary School in Hyattsville, Maryland. Lewisdale ES celebrated Earth Day today with a wide variety of hands on activities that, in NEED spirit, had the 5th and 4th grade students working as presenters for the younger students. Presentations included everything from pedaling for power on the energy bike to learning about birds and planting seeds to take home. The photos above were taken by one of the official 9 year old photographers for the event, Miguel Romero, of his teachers Ms. Rouget and Ms. Fiechuk. Another great energy bike outing!
Pedaling for Power!
A guest blog written by DaNel Hogan, Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow, Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy
Constellation Energy hosted Energy Education Day at Sunset Elementary in Pasadena, MD on March 23rd! All of the 4th and 5th grade students participated in activities using the energy bike which allows them to pedal the bike to generate electricity to power light bulbs. DaNel Hogan, an Einstein Educator Fellow at the Department of Energy and a NEED Facilitator, let the students experience the difference by pedaling the energy bike to power incandescent, compact fluorescent and LED light bulbs. Students also calculated how much horsepower it takes to power three incandescent bulbs at once and the cost of lighting a house with the different types of bulbs for a year. The students learned about the pros and cons of each type of bulb. They also learned how to dispose of compact fluorescent bulbs properly by taking them to a hardware store that accepts them or to their local household hazardous waste facility so the mercury vapor inside of them is contained and not released into the environment. A great day learning about energy efficiency, different types of light bulbs and pedaling for power!
Testimonial
At NEED, we love what we do. We are always honored that you love it too! So it’s always a real treat to hear how our curriculum and commitment to student leadership impacts students across the country. Recently, an Elementary School in Rhode Island shared a story that touched us and we wanted to share it with you.
I needed to share this story with you regarding our visit to North Scituate Elementary School. Shannon and I took students from our collaboratively instructed class and students from the high school’s NEED Club to visit North Scituate Elementary school on Friday afternoon. The students presented information to third grade classes on transportation fuels and announced our intention to use the raised garden beds we constructed to plant a garden at the school. The third graders worked hard preparing for our visit using the NEED Elementary Transportation Fuels Infobook. The presentations went well. As one of the special needs students was departing for his resource hour (this young man is autistic), he turned and made an announcement to our students. He said, “I want to thank you all for coming. You are role models to me and I want to be just like you guys when I get to the middle school. I am making a note of that.” He then left. The students were flattered, but it was not until the teacher came up to me with tears in hers eyes and said, “That young man has never spoken to anyone outside people he knew in that way. He has never reached beyond himself that way. Please tell your students.” Well, I did and now I am telling you both about our amazing students and about how this young man connected with students teaching students, the very goal of NEED. I can’t wait to return and plant seeds in the raised beds with this young man. WOW! This is a life changer.
Benefits of LED Lights in the Classroom
A guest blog written by Robert Lobitz, an Engineer at KASA Capital with a Masters in electrical engineering
Children learn much more by the examples that adults in their lives set than they do by simply listening to what they are told. We are teaching our children to find ways to live in a more environmentally friendly manner, but showing them easy ways to do so makes a greater impact. Replacing incandescent or fluorescent lighting in the classroom with LED lights is one step that shows kids how to make greener choices, and doing so may provide more benefits than you realized.
You are probably aware of the fact that LED lights are energy efficient, but do you know to what extent? A standard incandescent bulb emits light at 10 percent efficiency, which means 90 percent of the energy it expends is purely heat. Conversely, LED lights work at approximately 80 percent efficiency. Not only does this help conserve energy, but it cuts down on electricity bills as well.
Unlike fluorescent tubes, LED lighting does not contain any dangerous mercury or other compounds that could harm students should a light break in the classroom. As mentioned, the lights do not emit as much heat as their incandescent counterparts do, reducing the risk of children burning their fingers. In addition, they do not shatter when hit or dropped as fluorescent and incandescent lights are prone to do.
Lastly, LED lights may actually help students stay calmer and more focused. First, they do not produce any humming sounds like fluorescent tubes often do, nor do they flicker when they are faulty or old, meaning one less distractions for students (and teachers) to try to work around. In addition, the cool, white light of LED lamps is the most similar to natural sunlight, so it diminishes eyestrain and fatigue. Finally, many students and teachers find the lighting more soothing than the glaring illumination of fluorescent or incandescent lighting, delivering an environment more conducive to learning. What could be better than that?
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