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Solar Schoolhouse completes First Summer Institute [Santa Barbara]
John Perlin, a local Santa Barbarian and noted solar historian, joined Tor Allen and Hal Aronson of The Rahus Institute's Solar Schoolhouse program in conducting the four day training session. After a first day look at the history of solar energy use in our society, a visit to UC Santa Barbara's Bren Center (The highest rated green building in the country), and armed with some basic solar design principles, the teachers rolled up their sleeves and started building projects.
Solar cookers, cars, and solar-powered fountains were designed and built. Model solar homes, incorporating a multitude of strategies for using solar energy to heat, cool, and power the home, became a personal issue as teachers designed their dream homes (or remodeled their exisiting home) in their local climate. For teachers in the Imperial Valley, this meant homes that focused on passive cooling strategies to keep the solar summer heat out, while those from colder climates adopted techniques to maximize winter heating.
The experience of the teachers resonated with the vision of education that Solar Schoolhouse embraces: Give educators the information they need about a topic that interests them, put tools and materials in their hands, and then step back and watch them create and learn. After assembling their homes, many teachers added solar electric panels to the buildings to power internal loads including ceiling fans and lighting. Some teachers added plants to provide shading and tile to store heat.
In addition to the homes, teachers also built stand alone solar electric power systems, solar fountains, solar cookers, and solar race cars. On the final day of the four day institute the teachers raced to finish their model solar cars so that they could participate in the solar derby. After eating a solar cooked lunch half of the teachers made it to the starting line. Most of the cars ran fast and straight. It took three heats to determine a winner. All of the participants left feeling like winners. In a matter of a few days, a group of individual teachers from around the state became a learning community. Teachers earned two credits through UC Santa Barbara by participating in the workshop and completing related homework assignments. All of the teachers took several substantial projects home with them which will serve as valuable demonstrations for their teaching. More importantly, they gained confidence in working with solar energy. When asked for recommendations about how to improve the institute the teachers said make it last 5 days instead of four. Sponsorships to attend the Solar Schoolhouse Summer Institute where
provided by several several municipal utilities-Lodi Electric Utility,
Imperial Irrigation District, Truckee Donner Public Utility District,
Anaheim Public Utilities, Pasadena Water & Power, and City of
Palo Alto Utilities , the Bay Area Solar Consortium (a Million Solar
Roof Partner). Development of the Summer Institute was made possible
through a grant from the California Energy Commission. Solar Schoolhouse is planning to lead a Summer Institute next summer. More information will be available online www.solarschoolhouse.org in January 2004. Please contact us about sponsorship opportunities.925-370-7262 schoolinfo@solarschoolhouse.org  |
