Sustainability Design Class

Hey Everyone,

I just wanted to let you know that I will be teaching a class at the Worcester Area Think Tank this fall on sustainable design. The class is designed for students age 13-18 and will be held on Tuesdays between 11 and 2 from September 4th to December 21st. We will be building our own solar panels and all sorts of fun things! To make it even better, the cost is only $425 for sixteen three hour classes!

Here is the course description from the Think Tank Website.

For most of us, energy is the electricity that comes out of the wall or the fuel that runs our car and heats our house. Where does it really come from and what are the environmental consequences of how we typically produce it? We will explore these questions and learn about alternative methods of energy production. Students will learn about energy from the sun by experimenting with ways to collect, store and use it. Some of the projects will include building a solar oven to cook food, active and passive hot water and air heaters, a solar powered hydrogen car and photovoltaic solar panels to take home and experiment with. Using formulas relating volts, amps and watts, students will be challenged to calculate the energy usage and component specifications for a small photovoltaic system that we will build to power a device at Think Tank. Hone your soldering skills and learn to use Google SketchUp (a free Computer Aided Design program) to plan and visualize ideas as we learn what unplugging from the grid is all about!