Posts Tagged ‘Alternative Energy Education’

The best method of educating people about alternative energy production is to capture their interest when they are young. I have just come across the PicoTurbine Company on the web and they produce kits, books, and projects for the purpose of advancing the cause of renewable (alternative) energy among young people. Their desire is to help them look into the future and see that the environment that’s being created now is the one they will inherit. We need to understand if we are to change the future world for the better, then it starts right here and now with the advent of “green” energy systems.

Tell me, and I will forget. Show me, and I might remember some of it. Involve me, and I will master it. This old tried and true adage is one of the core concepts of PicoTurbine Company. The kits the company produces come with activity suggestions to get the young people into hands-on learning situations.

Some of the company’s suggestions are:
- To demonstrate how heat can be produced by wind energy (the company’s specialty) through using a “picture wire” for the heating element. PicoTurbine has found that people typically think of wind energy as being “cold” energy, and are pleasantly surprised to see how wind can be used for generating heat in the home.
- Another project suggestion that the company offers is to have different groups split off in the classroom and make some miniature wind turbines. Then compare them and see which ones produce the most or least electricity, and which ones need of the least amount of wind power to start turning. For very young children, they have them look at which ones look the nicest.

PicoTurbine has a core curriculum in mind for teachers to help their pupils learn. They look at several renewable, alternative sources of energy including solar, hydroelectric, geothermal, and biomass in addition to wind-produced energy. They teach how when we use more alternative sources of energy, we decrease our nation’s dependence on foreign oil supplies. Often these oil supplies come from nations we cannot really call our “allies”. They also help them realize alternative energy is already becoming cost effective when set against the fossil fuels that we are so reliant on currently.

Their curriculum points out that wind farms and solar arrays are already letting their makers enjoy commercial success. I bet you don’t even realize how in the last two decades, the cost of photovoltaic cells expressed in terms of per-watt has gone from nearly $1000 to just $4! Isn’t that incredible? And it is predicted by analysts that by the year 2015, the cost per watt should only be about $1 (in today’s dollars).

They also have not forgotten that students also need to be taught about the hidden cost of fossil fuels: pollution and environmental degradation. Air pollution from burning fossil fuels has been shown through studies to increase incidences of asthma attacks, heighten the effects of allergies, and even cause cancer.

There is much we as adults could also learn from their kits. Things like how switching over to clean, green energy found in the alternative forms would prevent air pollution and help save our environment. Maybe you want to check them out.