Refresher Workshop on Maui

 Teachers measuring their work, equal to force times distance

 Prepping for torque lab--a new IEI activity under development

 Twisting a tube to lift weights

 Data to determine work and power

 Watts and costs for electric loads

 Renewed skills using volt meters

 Checking voltage from photovoltaic cells

 Voltages confirmed, the team's PV panel drives their water pump

Optimizing blade angle of a wind turbine--as a team

Power of Students!

Power of Students

Island Energy Inquiry is developing additional class activities linking energy to work.  Students in Tech Careers measured forces and distances in two mini-labs:  Stairway to Heaven and Moving Water.  Back in the classroom, they calculated Work = Force x Distance, then computed their individual power.

Are you brighter than a 50-watt bulb?  Students calculated their results and answered the question.

Finally, they converted their watts of power to horsepower in the lab section titled Horsing Around.  Through this inquiry activity, they found that large muscle groups are best!  And that a world-class athletic bicyclist generated the power for the Gossamer Condor when it won the Kremer Prize for human-powered flight in 1977. 

Island Energy Inquiry Professional Development Course for Maui County Teachers Grades 5-12

MEDB Women in Technology is pleased to announce an Island Energy Inquiry Professional Development Course for teachers grades 5-12 to be held November 11^th & 12^th, 2011 (lunch provided both days) & 2 online follow-up sessions in February 2012 (exact dates TBD) at the Maui Research & Technology Park Malcolm Center (limited funding available for Molokai and Lanai teacher travel).

Highlights of the course:

·    ENGAGE in the use of the Island Energy Inquiry science curriculum which focuses on energy sustainability for Hawai’i  (aligned to HCPS III and Common Core Standards)

·    RECEIVE an Island Energy Inquiry Kit as well as access to an equipment loan program (PV panels, solar thermal, wind, energy auditing, and other equipment!)

·    INTERACT with local Hawai‘i energy professionals and hear live energy presentations

·    BENEFIT from ongoing support via Island Energy Inquiry Blog & Website

·    LEARN to use our Clean Energy Hawaii STEM App via a mobile lab of iPad computers

·    EARN $200 stipend for full participation and classroom implementation

Please visit www.womenintech.com/workshops.html to register.

Download the IEI flyer for more information. 

We look forward to an enriching workshop!

Island Energy Inquiry Lending Library Fall 2011

As Hawaii educators are starting their 2011/2012 school year, we would like to remind Island Energy Inquiry Workshop participants that the Island Energy Inquiry Library Program (IEI-LL Program) is available to teachers who want to use hands-on tools to implement energy inquiry science in their classrooms.

To sign up for a kit, please complete the following survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8NPKXMS

Participants need to have an IEI-LL Participant Agreement on file, abide by the program's policies and procedures, and have a google or gmail account to access online shared forms.

If you have already implemented the IEI-LL tools in your classroom, please share your IEI-LL experiences and ideas here! Mahalo!

Maui Smart Grid Project

The Maui Smart Grid Project will demonstrate and evaluate new technologies that will help residents better manage and reduce energy consumption during periods of high demand, and assist Maui Electric Co. (MECO) to operate the power grid more efficiently. These technologies will also help  to restore power outages faster and integrate more renewable energy into Maui’s electricity grid. If you are interested and participating and live in the Maui Meadows please check out: http://www.mauismartgrid.com/

Resource from: http://www.mauismartgrid.com/

"Clean Energy: Picking up the Pace in 2011"

Hawaiian Electric Company's latest newsletter featuring updated information on new technologies, customer projects, and the status of the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative.

 "Clean Energy: Picking up the Pace in 2011". Powerlines. Summer 2011.

Appropedia: The Sustainability Wiki

Mission: Sharing knowledge to build rich and sustainable lives.

Appropedia is the "Wikipedia" of sustainability. This internationally used site has information on all things sustainable such as detailed descriptions of the different renewable energy technologies, creative new RE inventions, and information on RE projects done all over the world. The name Appropedia comes from the idea of "Appropriate Tehnology". Below is a description of appropriate technology directly from the Appropedia website. Appropedia is a great place to share information and collaborate with others on renewable energy. It's a wiki so it is free to sign up and would be a perfect place to post projects you may have done with your students.

Appropriate technology (AT) is technology that is designed with special consideration to the context of its use - including environmental, ethical, cultural, social, political, and economical aspects of the community it is intended for. With these goals in mind, AT proponents claim their methods require fewer resources, are easier to maintain, and have less of an impact on the environment compared to techniques from mainstream technology, which they contend is wasteful and environmentally polluting.

The term is usually used to describe simple technologies proponents consider suitable for use in developing nations or less developed rural areas of industrialized nations. This form of "appropriate technology" usually prefers labor-intensive solutions over capital-intensive ones, although labor-saving devices are also used where this does not mean high capital or maintenance cost. In practice, appropriate technology is often something described as using the simplest level of technology that can effectively achieve the intended purpose in a particular location. In industrialized nations, the term appropriate technology takes a different meaning, often referring to engineering that takes special consideration of its social and environmental ramifications.