With school budgets shrinking as fast as our polar ice caps, it is not always easy to come up with hands-on solar projects. Thanks to NEED, the National Energy Education Development project, we used their plans to build the fastest, lowest cost, most portable solar oven not on the market. Let me introduce Sydney, a bright, social, and witty 8th grader going to school in Paradise California. Here she recounts a solar project she did two years ago:

Hello my name Sydney Zimmerman I am 13 and an 8th grader at Paradise Intermediate. I am also a teacher’s assistant for Evergreen 6 – an amazing solar school. I was enrolled at Evergreen 6 in the 6th grade where I experienced solar energy for the first time. Mr. Holman fascinated all of us with solar energy. Well I am not a fan of science but solar energy was a subject that I was amazed with and still am. Just like the rest of Evergreen, we were anticipating the arrival of our new solar system. There was so much to learn about. We were having different lessons about solar energy everyday. With little examples everywhere there was so much to take in all at once. Evergreen taught all of us how we can cook using solar energy. One way they taught us how to cook with solar energy was using Solar Hot Dog Cookers made from Pringles cans. It was so much fun and really easy to make these cookers.

From the NEED Project Instructions (Download here- need-solar-hot-dog-cooker.pdf):

• Cut Pringles Can. Cut a 7′ line going horizontal on the side of the can then on each end of that line cut a 3′ line going vertical. Bend the flaps back but do not remove the flaps from can for they are important in cooking your hot dogs.
• Cover opening on side of the can with a transparency film and tape film into place.
• Make two small holes – one on the metal end of the can and another on the lid. Remove lid from can.
• Put hot dog on skewer. Fit the skewer through the hole on the bottom of the can. Then put on the lid fitting the other end of the skewer through the hole on the lid. The hot dog should now be in your cooker.
• Place the Solar Hot Dog Cooker into direct sunlight. Making sure the flaps are reflecting energy onto the hot dog.
• Time how long it takes to cook your hot dog.
• When Hot dog in cooked remove out of Can and enjoy your delicious Solar Cooked meal!

* You Can Experiment with your cookers using other high light sources.

Two useful tips we have learned at Evergreen over the years:

1. To make the hole in the metal end of the can, gather up a nail and hammer. Place the plastic lid over the metal end of the can. Use the small plastic dot in the center of the plastic lid to use as a pattern. This will allow you to hammer the nail dead-center in the lid and metal end at the same time.
2. Roll the 8.5 X 11 transparency film into a loose roll. Slide it into the can fom the open end. When you let go, it will expand to the size of the can’s interior, not needing tape to hold it inside.

It was a lot of fun to make these cookers and it did not cost a whole bunch. The kids get to experience solar power using something that they created themselves. I think that all teachers should try this project the kids bring in their own Pringles can and all you provide is a skewer and a transparency film, it is that easy! The kids will have fun and be able to eat what they make. It taught us a whole bunch on how solar energy can be used in different things and can be used in our normal daily lives.

These ovens are great for hikes, lunch, and to take home when they are done. Many students report taking them camping and sharing the ovens with family and friends. For those that “do not eat hot dogs,” remember there are turkey dogs and garden dogs out there. “No-Smoke Smores,” Bagel Bites and mini cheese melts can also be made in these ovens. On a hot day, hot dogs can be cooked in around 15-30 minutes. If your hot dog gets finished early, just aim the window away from the sun to keep it warm. For interesting flavor, some report a mild taste of the variety of Pringles that originally came in the can – just be careful not to clean it out before use.

Whatever your budget, Pringles can solar cookers are a great introduction to solar energy. Often students will start to think of other ways they can harness the sun’s free energy…

Spring and summer may seem to be a long way off, start collecting empty cans (with lids) now – you may be ready in time for solar hot dog season!

Athens, Ohio was the site of a perfect storm – a perfect solar storm. Dr. Paul Grippa, principal of Athens Middle School, received a call a few years ago to see if he was interested in getting a solar system installed on his school. “Absolutely!“ “American Electric Power donated the solar panels as part of AEP’s Learning from Light Initiative and the project took off,” according to Glen Kizer, President of the Foundation for Environmental Education.

The 1kw system had panels donated by American Electric Power. This install was funded in part with an Athens Foundation Grant. Third Sun Solar& Wind Ltd – also of Athens, donated the labor. Third Sun now has over 100 system installations under their belt in Ohio. When I asked Geoff Greenfield, president of the company, where they came up with the name, he answered, “Michelle and I had two boys when we started – the company was our third..”

Ben Appleby, Executive Director of Sierra Club’s Appalachian Ohio group had volunteers there to help with the installation. Mr. Appleby, a project manager for Third Sun, spearheaded the project. One observer notes, “The project would never have gotten off the ground without Ben’s interest in giving something back to the local community in order to educate our youth about the impact of our energy choices on the environment, and his ability to work with all of the individuals and organizations that made this possible.”

And what and impact the project has made! The Ohio Sierra Club website quotes science teacher Dylan Crawford, “Now solar power is more than a picture in our textbooks, its right here on the side of our school making power that we can actually use.”

During the installation, Geoff Greenfield observed, “The Ohio state science curriculum actually has a renewable energy component – so the science teachers were really excited to have this teaching tool on their building!”

Ohio State Science Academic Content Standards for grades 6-8:
C. Describe renewable and nonrenewable sources of energy (e.g., solar, wind, fossil fuels, biomass, hydroelectricity, geothermal and nuclear energy) and the management of these sources.

The school has real-time data monitoring:

http://view2.fatspaniel.net/PV2Web/merge?view=PV/detailDC/HostedAdmin&eid=41937

Students, staff, and the public can log on to see how much power is being generated. Variables such as temperature, length of day, clouds and air quality can be explored. Greenhouse emissions avoided and historical data can also be viewed.

Dedicated September 25, 2006, Mayor Ric Abel, Commisioners Mark Sullivan and Bill Theisen, Councilwoman Debbie Phillips, school staff, students and parents were there to celebrate.

*Historical pictures courtesy of the City of Athens photo gallery.

Story input provided by Nola

I am a teacher at the Clearlake Community School in Clearlake, California. I love living around the lake and having the lake as a center for our community as well as for neighboring communities like Lakeport and Lucerne and Kelseyville. The lake connects us and holds us together. I love having my friends and my family all living in and around this wonderful creation of nature. In the morning the sunlight hits the water and there is a mist that rises that you would have to see to understand. And every sunny day the lake is this wonderful blue color made vibrant by the yellow sun and the blue sky.

It is not a perfect circle in shape and the shoreline is varied and some places there are houses and bridges and other places there are just fish and birds. The lake is not a human invention, but rather a natural phenomenon. There are many lakes around the United States and around the world, but each lake is unique. Our lake is unique. And Clearlake is a beautiful place to live and work because almost wherever we go we can see the lake in the background.

My “people” have been driving around and living along the perimeter and boating on this wonderful lake since before I was born and they will do so long after I am gone. My friends live here. Few manmade structures offer us such a connection to each other as this clear lake. But I am gradually starting to get used to one manmade structure, the solar electricity panels in our “solar on a stick” pole mounted PV system. It is kind of an odd shape and some people might say it looks like a flower or a tree. It never moves and there is nothing turning and there is nothing burning inside. It is like a rock, but it is becoming familiar to me. I am getting comfortable with it. It is becoming part of our community.

This solar electricity system reminds me of the lake. The solar panels are arranged into an array, as a group of panels, and the array sits at the top of the pole at the school and collects sunlight just like the lake. And the array is blue just like the lake. Every morning the sun hits the solar panels and it wakes up and starts to make electricity. At night, the sun goes dark and the solar panels too go to sleep. Both the solar panels and the lake appear to be quiet, but there is life in both. The solar panels are generating electricity for our school and that electricity helps to power our lights, our computers, our telephones, our televisions, our microwave ovens, our televisions and the fans that move the heated air around in the winter and the cool air around in the winter.

Electricity may be invisible, but it is one of the most important parts of our community and in many ways it connects us to the outside world in the same way a road or river connects us. The lake has fish and birds and people and plants and trees all depending on it for life. All of us live here because of the lake and tourists come here to look at and fish in and boat on top of the lake. The more I think about it the more I find the solar electricity system at our school on top of that pole reminds me of our wonderful lake. One of the things that I have always wanted each of our students to understand is how we must protect the lake from pollution. Now what I also want them to understand is that the solar panels on the top of that pole help us protect the lake as well as the air we breathe and the land we walk on.

The grant that enabled us to get the solar array came from PG&E. The Foundation for Environmental Education helped us with the installation and NEED helped us with the teaching part of the project. We have a live data collection system that enables anyone to look on line and see how much electricity we are creating for our school at any time of the day.

The PG&E Solar School Program is a nice project for our in-classroom teaching because it gives us a tool for teaching math and science and art and social science. It helps our students understand that it is possible for a small group of kids in Clearlake, California to generate electricity. A multi-billion power plant is not the only way to generate electricity. All we need is a few solar panels on the top of the pole. Of course, to generate all of the electricity we use in Clearlake we will need a lot more panels, but how many and where they might go and how much they will cost is all part of an educational exercise. And for the next generation that we are teaching, it will not be “either fossil or solar” or “nuclear or wind” but rather how to use each fuel source to take advantage of its strengths and to minimize its disadvantages. Those won’t be easy decisions and this project will help our students understand the question a lot more than students who have never seen a solar electricity system work.

So just like we use the lake as a teaching tool to help them understand how powerful this large body of water is and why we must protect it while we use it, the PV panels help us teach them how important it is for us to protect our environment while we live in it and while we use it. I also like it because every day when I go to school I love driving by the lake as it wakes up.  Every day, when I get to school, I love seeing that blue solar array on the top of that pole starting its day as well. And more and more of my friends and family are starting to notice it to. Hopefully, in the near future, we will all be so used to seeing solar panels on every building in Clearlake that people will stop paying any attention to our solar on a stick. But I will notice it. I will always be aware of both the lake and now the solar panels year in and year out doing their jobs like I am doing mine.

This is our second part of a two part series on our latest favorite solar device! Our last story was from an educational perspective, and this time we’re taking it to the streets…with a glimpse into the electric consumption, and new carbon free mobility choices of a solar salesperson in Berkeley, CA.

Story submitted by James Hatfield, SolarCity road warrior

I am a solar salesperson who spends a lot of my time out on the road. And I love cross-country running. That means I spend a lot of time on my phone, taking sun readings on rooftops, and almost every day I have my mp3 player plugged into my ears while I’m out running. I’m probably not the only person living like this, but suffice it to say I spend quite a bit of time away from home – and using electricity in my assortment of little productivity devices.

A typical day for me: out on the road making several sales visits, talking about solar energy with homeowners, business owners, schools, city officials (read: anyone who will listen), and using my Solmetric SunEye tool to measure solar access for the roof area, then, if time permits, sneak in a quick energizing run through the woods in a nearby state park while listening to my favorite tunes, then get on the phone and talk, talk, talk. All of this takes a lot of energy, but not only my own energy. I’m talking about electricity — juice, lightnin’ in a bottle, man’s greatest invention, whatever you want to call it — the stuff needed to power my productivity tools: the SunEye, mp3, and the cell phone. And I need it all day, every day. Sure, my little devices don’t individually or even collectively require much electricity, but (isn’t there always a “but”) I have to assume that there are thousands, nay, millions, of “road warriors” like myself who are plugging their own productivity tools into the wall every day and night. And I really don’t like plugging into the wall – this ultimately means plugging into dirty power.

Enter man’s latest greatest invention, the Solio! The Solio is a hybrid solar charger, used by people all over the world to provide low-demand electricity for all kinds of devices. Now, I’ve seen all sorts of photovoltaic charging devices that provide trickle supply – heck, I have a friend who’s got a small photovoltaic module on his car dashboard that keeps his car battery in tip-top shape. But, the greatest thing about the Solio is that it’s got an internal lithium-ion battery, which means that I can charge it during the day and plug my devices into it at any time. And because it’s a newer, long-lasting battery technology, the battery won’t “die” or lose it’s stored capacity for quite a long time – up to a full year.

Let’s do a little math to see what power these little devices require:

• My SunEye charger requires 50 Watts, and I charged it on average 2 hours a week (50 x 2 = 100 Watt hours)
• My BlackBerry charger uses 24 Watts, and I charged it 8 hours a week (24 x 8 = 192 Wh)
• My mp3 player needs 2 Watts to charge, and I charge it 4 hours a week (2 x 4 = 8 Wh)

So, in a week I was using (100 + 192 + 8 =) 300 Wh per week. Taken over a full year, this calculates out to (300 Wh x 52 weeks = 15,600 Wh, or) 15.6 kWh.

In California, 1 kiloWatt hour produces 0.49 lbs of CO2. In CA, baseline (the cheapest) electricity in PG&E territory costs 11.43 cents/kWh. Here’s an example Power Label from my August 2007 PG&E Bill:

Most importantly, this means by using the Solio over the course of a year (which I have every intention of doing), I’ll remove 7.644 lbs of CO2 from the air. Additionally, I’ll save myself (15.6 x $0.1143) $1.78 in a year – I’ll make sure to by myself a cup o’ coffee in October 2008 and thank my Solio! This last figure may not be much to any one individual (at least in our society), but multiplied by let’s say 300 million cell phones & mp3 players in the US, that’s $534 million!! And 2,293,200,000 lbs (yes, that’s Billions!) of CO2 (a conservative estimate, given that CA’s energy is among the cleanest in the US). Now, that is the type of wholesale change that truly will make an impact.

Another very useful aspect of the tool is its rubber suction cone, which allows me to stick it in any window in my car while I’m driving (or parked). If I’m driving northwest at 3pm, I stick it in the passenger window behind me. If I’m driving east at 10am, it’s in the front passenger window. If I park in a covered parking garage for a visit with a customer, I plug in my mp3 player and put everything in the glove box to charge the mp3 player. There’s never a dull moment!

Other benefits: the Solio comes with a complete set of plug adaptors for all types of phones and devices, meaning you can likely charge what you need right out of the box.

The result of having this handy dandy tool? I haven’t plugged any of my productivity tools into the wall in 5 weeks! I’ve not had one moment where I’m caught with a dead device, and even when we have a couple dark, rainy days I’ve got enough stored power to keep me going. The change from plugging into the Solio vs. wall outlets was easy – so much so that I am afraid to say I don’t even know where my wall charger is for my BlackBerry. But, I’m not worried at all – the Solio has worked perfectly, and will keep on working forever…I hope! The battery should last 10+ years, much longer than any of these devices will likely last, so the Solio will make “friends” with quite a lot of trinkets in the coming years and won’t account for a single particle of CO2 in the air while doing it.

It seems that every time you turn around, another device has been created to make our lives easier. Many of these devices use electricity. Sure, an iPod does not require a lot of energy. However, millions of iPods requiring a little energy adds up.

Ten years ago, the United States had around 34 million cell phones in service. Today, more than 200 million!

So, how do these statistics show up on an Energyseeds story? Well, not long ago, I received a handy little solar gadget called the Solio. The Solio is a small, portable and lightweight solar array and battery storage system. Think of it as your own personal “off-grid” power supply. The Solio literature states that an hour of charging in the sun can translate into about 25 minutes of talk time. The nice thing about the Solio, that sets it apart from other chargers, is the onboard lithiom-ion battery. That way, your expensive new mp3 player does not have to be out in the sun to charge. In fact, you can charge up your Solio and carry that juice with you for up to a year!

At first, I was really enjoying setting up the panels and adjusting the angle of the Solio towards the sun by using a pencil. Next, I began to think how I could use it.

A student in my science class suggested that we could power a cell phone with it. Not to be outdone, another student suggested we power a cell phone with solar power – only. I am game to try anything once, so we decided to take my phone “off grid.” We are almost a month into the experiment, and my Motorola has never dipped below 2/3 a charge!

    

Now let’s crunch some numbers. The average cell phone charger uses about 3 watts. Assuming that conservatively every phone is plugged in for 6 hours a week…

7 hours a week X 3 watts = 21 watts a week

21 X 52 weeks = 1092 watts a year (round to 1kWh).

If we take a simple calculation of $.10/cents a kWh, that translates to Americans are using more than 200,000,000 kWh a year to power their cell phones! That is at least $20 million a year!! Those of you that are energy savvy may know that unless those Americans are unplugging their chargers between charges, the “phantom loads” on those chargers being plugged in can be many times higher than the amount of energy they are using to charge the phones!

Lets assume half of this country’s cell phone chargers are left plugged in. (this is being optimistic)

100 million X 1watt/hour X 24 hours X 365 days =’s 876,000,000 kWh! X $.10 =’s $87 million a year!

Enough about money… By using the Solio, charging my phone is so much more convenient in my backpack. I do not need to worry about forgetting it “on the charger.” Not to mention the safety aspect during a power outage, or out hiking and camping away from modern civilization.

There are parallels between off-setting your carbon footprint of your cell phone, with off-setting your home electrical use with a home solar system. Or in the future, installing a solar-covered car port to plug in your all electric vehicle…

Sure, the immediate payback may not be there. Using the Solio as a real-life example of how to gain the convenience of a cell phone, while off-setting environmental impacts is excellent.

Buying a Solio portable solar charging device: $80
Teaching the world to reduce their carbon footprint: PRICELESS!

Story submitted by Barbara Revard

Nearly ten years ago the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium realized the need to build a new barn for our goats, sheep, ponies, llamas and chickens. This realization was no small endeavor as these domestic animals are easily one of the biggest attractions to our youngest visitors!

As with most planning projects, we quickly had too many GREAT ideas! What began as a little red barn ended up as a new region of the Zoo, Habitat Hollow, a “place with space for everyone”. The main attraction of Habitat Hollow is My House, an interpretive storybook house where our guests are engaged with the natural beauty of habitats found right in their own backyards. The educational theme for My House highlights the beauty and diversity of North American habitats and the diversity of life found within them.

The Zoo made a commitment early in the planning process to engage community partners in exploring innovative building processes and practices. The Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio (they manage our local landfill) assisted us in collecting polystyrene lunch trays from 70 schools in our area. When cleaned, those trays were an ingredient in a manufacturing process, along with concrete, to create building blocks which form the exterior walls of My House. Literally, the trash that built the House. Other green elements are detailed in the illustration below.

Certainly, when talking about living more lightly on the earth, energy consumption is a topic to discuss.

The Zoo was assisted in installing a 1 kilowatt solar system on My House, by:

• Third Sun Renewable Energy (especially Geoff Greenfield)
• American Electric Power who donated the solar panels (especially John Hollback and Paul Loeffelman)
• The Foundation for Environmental Education (especially Glen Kizer)

The panel is functioning both by producing electricity, and also as serving an educational opportunity for our guests. Inside the kitchen of the house are a meter and an interpretive panel. When visitors exit the kitchen of the house, a solar panel is visible on the roof overhead. One of the main intentions at My House was to highlight actions that our visitors could participate in at their own homes. While some families might be able to invest in a solar system, apartment owners might find container gardening on their patio the best fit. We just hope to provide options and inspiration for various green endeavors!

No home would be complete without a garden shed and ours is illuminated with a light tube, also courtesy of the Foundation for Environmental Education. The small unit fits into a hole in the roof and sheds light throughout the interior display. Guests are always surprised when they realize that the light in the shed is all provided by one small, unobtrusive light tube.

Don’t think we forgot about the goats and the ponies that started this project! My Barn also contains green building materials including reused timbers from an old barn, recycled content siding, shingles and a rain barrel. Habitat Hollow also uses an old fashioned windmill to power the aeration pump in our farm pond.

You might wonder, “Does the exhibit work?” We have been conducting evaluations for 4 years now and feel good about the overall learning and understanding of our original messages. More to the point though, we received a letter from a mother that really made us smile. Her family had visited the exhibit several times and the young boy always paid attention to the panel in the kitchen which shows the story of the reclaimed polystyrene lunch trays. When his birthday came around the 7 year old asked his mother if they could have party and not use any throwaway goods – no paper plates or polystyrene cups for him! Instead he wanted to have party which would use reusable goods. Message received!