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| Home > Recent News & Events > High School Renewable Energy Design Competition
High School Renewable Energy Design Competition If you are interested in Renewable Energy, are a high school student thinking about a The Falls Brook Centre is organizing the Energy Experience Engineering Design Competition for New Brunswick High School Students. Upon registering for the competition each team will be provided with a toolkit of materials to help them complete the challenge. A guide book is available to help each team get organized and the design challenge explains the details of the system to be designed and outlines regulations regarding additional materials. This year’s design challenge is to build a solar thermal water heating system. Solar thermal water heaters are used all over the world to harness the abundant energy from the sun to produce heat. The solar heat is used for domestic hot water production or for space heating our homes and other buildings. The design challenge requirements are to build a one square meter solar thermal collector, assemble a solar photovoltaic (solar electric) module to power a small pump, and deliver and retain as much heat as possible to a 16 Litre bucket. Each registered team can schedule a workshop with Falls Brook Centre staff to help them complete the solar photovoltaic module construction and provide general feedback on their proposed design. The design process may involve carpentry, plumbing, metal working, wiring, soldering, circuit design, insulation, silicone sealing and encapsulation. It is important that each team have a mentor in their school or community who can help ensure safety and aid in finding resources in the area. Teams may also need to ask local businesses for donations of materials or do some fundraising to cover any of their expenses. It may be possible for designs to also be entered into local or regional science fairs. Final designs will be evaluated at a rally hosted at the Falls Brook Centre during the month of May. The main factor in the judging will be the performance of the system but the design process and planning will also be considered. A detailed breakdown of the evaluation criteria is included in the design challenge document. Other activities related to sustainable energy systems will be included in the final rally. The design competition is a part of a larger project which involves the development of hands-on energy education demonstrations and activities which reinforce the New Brunswick middle and high school curriculum. These education “kits” include modules on Solar Electricity, Wind power, biofuels, electrical energy production, transmission, and consumption, micro-hydro generation, geothermal systems, ocean energy, and electrical control systems. Some of them may even be useful to help teams complete their design.
To learn more about the design competition or the Energy Experience project in general check out the project website at fallsbrookcentre.ca/experience or contact the Falls Brook Centre and invite a representative to come to your school and explain all the details. The registration deadline is March 31, 2008 so don’t delay. Brent Crowhurst
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