By Callan Sturgis (Naturalist)

At Mount Hermon Outdoor Science School, we have over 3,000 kids come through our program. Each week, we get a new set of 5th and 6th grade students ready to experience science in a completely different way. Every week we offer one afternoon of electives that each teacher has crafted in their own passions. On Wednesday afternoons at Mount Hermon Outdoor Science School, Callan’s Solar Energy class is where it is at!!! I get their interest piqued with the idea of harnessing the power of the sun to make our homes run and reel them in with my solar-powered race car. I may hint to a love for math to give the kids an idea of what to expect and boy, do they come running!

Our first adventure is to understand how the path of the sun affects our world. The kids are reminded what summer and winter solstices are as well as equinox, as to visualize the different positions the sun takes in the sky throughout the year. If solar cells work most efficiently in direct sunlight, the kids are challenged to try to figure out at what degree our solar panels should be positioned. Using rulers, protractors and our location’s latitude, students diagram the farthest south the sun rises (winter solstice), the farthest north the sun rises (summer solstice) and solar noon. Once they have agreed on the angle of our solar panels, we start making our own!

I pass out solar kits that require a pretty thorough understanding of parallel and series circuits. Once they feel comfortable, each group of 2 or 3 begins to set up 8 solar cells that start with .4 Volts and 100 Amps individually. The students actually decipher the correct combination that allows for 1.6 Volts and 200 Amps that power the small attached fan. The look on their face as that fan begins to spin is priceless.

Why is solar energy important? What impact could it have on our lives? The perspective of a 6th grader is far different from my own so their answers are great! “You could play video games outside.” “We could give energy to poor countries so they could have warm showers.” “We could save money and not have to pay so many bills.” No matter what perspective, seeing it for their own eyes opens up so many more avenues of possibilities for solar energy in their world. They begin to build an appreciation for this largely untapped resource and get excited for what “could be.”

The class ends with solar cars which is what got them all there in the first place. I chalk out a beginning and ending line in a sunny spot, for instance, our tennis courts. They have some time to tinker a bit with their car. They reduce as much friction as possible and when they feel ready, we line them up. The anticipation is great. The kids are pumped. And with a blow of my whistle, they are off!!!! Some pull to the right. Some pull to the left. But others move ahead full force to the finish line, powered by the sun alone. The kids want to race over and over, sure that they have found the perfect angle of the solar cell, the smoothest ride and the straightest path. This experience is what really locks it all in. That they can use solar energy for what they want in their lives. It isn’t just a grown-up thing.

Previously published by renewableenergyworld.com, in a different format with a different title.

By Alex Kizer

It has been said that when it comes to the U.S. military “successes are private while failures are public.” A recent success involving the Defense Department (DoD) and the renewable energy industry, however, must come to light.

December of last year, the secretary of the Air Force, Michael B. Donley, signed the Air Force Energy Program Guidance Memorandum, which is the first time that the U.S. military’s created a comprehensive energy strategy that focuses on increasing the use of renewable energy.

“The Air Force is identifying alternative sources of energy to reduce the impact of energy use on the environment, developing long-term objectives to achieve zero waste, and is pledging support to achieve DoD and Air Force environmental goals,” the memorandum stated.

It should be no surprise that the Air Force, or the U.S. military more generally, is concerned with energy consumption, especially considering the two most recent wars that have cost the U.S. hundreds of billions of dollars. With the supply needs of the American military today, like the $6.5 billion the Air Force spends on total energy costs (2006), securing energy supplies remains critical to its operational capacity.

What is surprising is how the Air Force Energy Memorandum has made renewable energy a main pillar of DoD energy supply policy.

From the Memorandum: The Air Force plans to increase facility renewable energy use at annual targets of 5 percent by 2010, 7.5 percent by 2013, and 25 percent by 2025 — while 50 percent of the increase must come from new renewable sources. As well as implementing the strict use of environmentally friendly energy, the Air Force is evaluating and developing protocols that will allow it to identify, quantify and manage its own greenhouse gas emissions.

“The U.S. military is probably better at mobilizing action and committing funds to R&D than any organization in the world,” said Dr. Richard Andres, a Senior Fellow at the National Defense University and head of the new Energy and Environmental Security Research Group. “The Defense Department only recently started seriously talking about renewable energy and you can already see some of the world’s most impressive projects starting to generate power on U.S. bases.”

A Department of Energy panel of experts in the field of energy technology recently discussed their findings from “Breakthrough Energy Technologies: The Enabling Role of Basic Science” at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington, DC.

At the conference, Dr. John Hemminger, a scientist from UC Irvine, concluded that “many options hold great promise — solar PV, efficiency, battery and storage technologies — but their realization will rely on further advances in our understanding of basic science.”

Herein lies the opportunity for the Air Force Energy Program to have multiplier effects as it spins off new technology and disseminates expertise and investment around the country. If the U.S. was able to secure the next great renewable energy breakthrough, before, say China, then not only would the U.S. become better equipped as an energy exporter, and perhaps give rise to a new energy trade and balance of power, but in doing so might also solve the global environmental problem of climate change.

In this contest the renewable energy industry can use all the help it can get. The investment incentives structure is simply not yet there, and Congress’ stimulus package alone cannot support the future U.S. energy infrastructure.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act contains $20 billion in tax incentives for renewable energy, as well as an extension of the Production Tax Credit for wind, hydropower and other clean energy sources. However, these incentives cannot force investors to expand the supply of clean energy without first evaluating the credit situation, as well as the market demand for technologies like PV and solar thermal.

With the Air Force Energy Memorandum, a gap has been bridged that will bring about one of the most effective policy mechanisms in the world. It will force the U.S. military into the development of renewable energy without having to wait around for someone else to write the check.

For NDU Scholar Richard Andres, the military’s mission is evolving and will continue to grow in scope. “The Air Force’s official energy slogan is “make energy a consideration in all we do,” he said. Its goal is to have all Air Force personnel trained in energy awareness by 2010, as part of a required energy curriculum in the Academy and the Air University. “Under the leadership of true visionaries like Michael A. Aimone [Air Force Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff], the military has begun considering energy and the environment in its long list of operations. This means renewable energy, alternatives to oil and gas as well as any number of improved efficiencies.”

Most organizations absorb new directives in only one way: slowly. Contained within the Air Force’s Energy Program is an overall Energy Management Structure that disseminates objectives across the chain of command, which forces expediency and as Dr. Andres put it: “makes the U.S. military unlike most other organizations in the world.” But changing the culture of the military by making energy a consideration in all planning will be more difficult. These are pains that have stricken the environmental groups forever, and the military’s effectiveness at changing its energy culture is yet to be seen.

But the military cannot quietly act alone. Changing a culture requires the most public of all displays. The renewable energy industry has been successful at making energy and the environment an issue for discussion, while lacking the funds and manpower to breakthrough the U.S. culture of consumption. The U.S. military is very much the opposite. With the manpower and money to build a hospital in days or roads in hours, the Defense Department can to set a public example about changing its own culture of consumption, while promoting the same through research and development.

These two sides must work together to help combat energy dependence and climate change. The Air Force Memorandum is only the first step toward a new energy alliance that will raise eyebrows and with appropriate cooperation change the future culture of American energy consumption. Finally, renewable energy is being understood outside of the current, yet restrictive, climate change debate that focuses on “Green” as an ideology just outside our outstreached fingers.

By Jean Pennycook

In a place where the sun shines 24 hours a day it is only natural that solar energy would find a home. At Cape Royds on Ross Island, Antarctica the sun never goes below the horizon between October and February. It is during this time the Adelie Penguins come ashore to build their nests and raise their chicks.

Funded with a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the research team of Dr David Ainley leaves the warmth of California behind and heads to the cold and isolated Cape Royds Adelie breeding colony to study these remarkable birds. The tools of science require electricity, and generating power the traditional way would create carbon emissions and air pollutants that would compromise the pristine environment of Antarctica.  Solar panels are used instead to power the computers, data collectors, cameras, and radios. Solar panels power our Penguin Cam which takes both a wide angle and close-up of the colony every day. Completely powered from the sun’s energy, it goes to sleep when the sun goes down in April and wakes up with the sunrise in September. You can see pictures of the Penguin Cam on our website at www.penguinscience.com and the daily photos at http://thistle.org/pcam/.

The first picture shows our weighbridge computer mechanism which is housed in the tent and identifies individual penguins and weighs them as they come and go from their nesting site. With this data we learn how long they are gone on foraging trips and how much food they bring back to the chicks. In the next picture you see the tent where the researchers work and sleep. These panels keep the communication radios, cameras, and computers charged for the three months Dr. Ainley’s team is in the field. The panels are on a pole that swivels, allowing the researchers to rotate them as the sun moves through the sky.

By Mary Funk

As a teacher you always want all students to learn in a safe and friendly environment.  There always seems to be one or two students who just don’t want to fit in with the norm.  They do their best to disrupt, be funny or just do nothing.  Well, I had five of these boys, from the 8th grade and they were constantly being removed from after-school classes, day after day.

One afternoon I asked them if they would please go to separate corners of my class and design the classroom of their dreams.  They could have anything and everything they wanted in their class.  They did as I asked. The next day, I had them all work together to compare what they had, keep the best of the best, and come up with one classroom.  They did it, all within 65 minutes.

I asked if they could draw the plan on graph paper and label it.  They did it very neatly.  They worked solid for a week, no trouble, no complaints.  In the end I asked them to show the principal their design, he liked it very much.  He told them to take their plan, make it into a powerpoint presentation, price out how much it would cost, make up a budget and have it ready for the school board meeting.  They worked everyday for three weeks compiling what he had requested.

On the 3rd of the month, they marched into the meeting, made their presentation and were applauded for their efforts.  The students were told to find the funds and build.

They returned to my class looking glum and disheartened, thinking they would not be able to find the money. With a little time and effort, however, we did: $15,000.00 from A+ Energy Grant, and The PG&E Bright Ideas Grant. We later secured the California Garden Grant for $2,500.00, as well.

The entire community became interested in the project these students devised. Local residents came and worked on Saturdays, while the students worked after school and during science class.

Our Outdoor Learning Center was born: each class has a garden box; there is a solar powered river (200 feet long) with two ponds; a butterfly garden; a ladybug observation area; we have turtles, crawdads, and fish all living throughout the river and ponds.  We are gradually planting more and more native plants for the students to observe and learn about.

As the adviser of the project I knew we needed curriculum to back up every area the boys designed. I have gathered lessons, matched to the standards of each grade level, across the curriculum and provided the equipment needed for each and every activity. Today, we have 13 stations and at least five still in the planning stages.

Two classes at a time can work in each of the stations, use the education center or make observations easily and never leave our school grounds.

For the five boys who were the brainchild for this initiative, they have long left our school and moved on to high school at Riverdale High. Alex Fragoza, LeeRoy Aqundiz, Juan Rodriquez, Edgar Hernandez, and Sammy Rodriguez will always be credited with this great contribution to our school.  The staff and students will always be told about these boys that made it possible for all students to learn first-hand how life cycles work; what the water cycle is; what solar energy is and everything in between.  Their boredom has turned into the excitement of learning for many more students, now and in the future.  Solar Energy is alive and well in Burrel, thanks to our students of the past.

Burrel Union Elementary is on the right track thanks to these 5 boys.  We recycle our waste, grow our own food, and feed the community as well.  We harness the sun’s energy and power a river that provides a learning environment for students to learn life science and physical science first hand by discovery and exploration.

Our teachers have the lessons at their fingertips with all the equipment and supplies needed to suit any and all lessons. For helping the community, for helping the students of Burrel, and for helping the environment of the future — Thank you boys for having the idea of helping Burrel.

What Burrell has today:
•    a working compost of working to rid our trash of food waste.
•    We recycle all shredded paper from the office along with leaves and grass clippings.
•    We grow vegetables all year long in our box gardens and in our green house.
•    We can study the life of turtles, crawdads and worms.
•    We can study the pond and river water
•    We can observe and learn about butterflies in our Butterfly garden area
•    We can study the temperature, and light density in the different depths of the river-with handheld data collectors
•    We can observe many birds of prey and their hunting habits from our observation area
•    We can study the soil and run experiments on its makeup.
•    We can study about insects, birds of prey, and small mammals.
•    All subjects have reading books to read and learn about lessons, they have lesson plans and individual activities as well as group work.

And we are still growing.

Special Thanks go to our partners in success!
•    Professional Ag Resources
•    Kaiser Permanente-community Outreach program
•    Rollin Family Farms
•    Leoni Family Farms
•    Tim Bybee
•    Burrel School Board
•    Gary McDonald
•    All the students who helped complete this project.