SolarTown Goes Back to School
SolarTown visited the Alice Deal Middle School in Washington, D.C. today—yes, that is the same school that hosted the First Lady earlier this year. Possibly our visit did not cause the same stir as the First Lady’s, but we were very pleased to be able to attend the sixth grade science class. We got a chance not only to share information on renewable energy with the Sixth Graders, but also to learn from these kids.
We have good resources on solar energy for kids, their parents and teachers at SolarTownKids.comand we hope that the students will take advantage of the information there. The kids we met with today are smart and engaged by issues of global warming and renewable energy. Getting into the classroom with smart and engaged kids gives us a lot of hope that this generation will not repeat the mistakes of their parents’ generation. These kids seem to know the dangers of global warming and some of the possible solutions that will curb the impact of global warming.
We discussed the effects of global warming and what each one of us can do to curb the effects of the world getting warmer. Today we talked a long time about how this solar home that was entered into the Solar Decathlon from Iowa State University is a good example of how to achieve net zero with a combination of energy efficiency, passive solar, solar water heating and solar panels for electricity.
We let the kids borrow a solar oven for the next month so that they can cook up their favorite foods. On SolarTownKids, we have an activity to make your own solar cooker. If you are the parent of a school age kid, you might ask your child to cook you up some food with a solar cooker. And if you have a favorite solar activity to share on SolarTownKids, let us know. Go Vikings!