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Ask Slashdot: Classroom Eco-Projects Suited To Alaska?
First time accepted submitter shortyadamk writes "I just started a new job where I will have to visit many high school science classes and have the students participate in 1-3 day projects regarding sustainable energy and environmental sciences (in order to promote the regional universities' programs). I've looked at a number of the boxed projects available online and many of them are solar projects; my biggest issue with that is that we are in rural Alaska and much of the time I'll be visiting classes will be in the winter (when we have very little sunlight — and even if we did it would be too cold to go and play in). I'm curious if anyone has any ideas or suggestions for demonstrations and projects that can be done in the classroom and do not require sunlight. One other catch is that the project has to be small enough to fit in a suitcase or plastic tote; we don't have any roads connecting the villages so I will have to fly the project from school to school with me."
Heat some fresh wood chips in a test tube with a gas burner. Transfer the liquid to a small distiller (the kids already know this one from their dad's shed) and collect the burnable methanole fraction. Use it for a direct methanole fuel cell an charge a RC car.
Do the boxed solar projects actually require real sun in order to be educational? I mean, would the principles be evident to the students if you shone an electric light at solar panels indoors?
There's an awful lot of sunlight in Alaska during the summer, and the students should have long enough memories to know that.
Get an LED light and some tiny starter pots and seeds.
I can help you out with that.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
Obviously you could pack up a small turbine and multimeter and take it outside and show the kids the power generation. You might even contact the Alaskan wind industries asking for a kit to raise awareness in schools.
Another thought is thermoelectrics via Seebeck and Peltier Effects. I think you can pick up cheap little thermoelectric kits that are horribly inefficient (10%?) but if you could coordinate with the school, you might have access to a heat exhaust or something nearby where you could set up the device and show the kids that you can harvest some of the energy coming off the exhausts. Failing that, you could boil a pot of water and position it over it? If it's cold as hell outside, you might even be able to just push it up against a window?
Really, it's just be important to get the kids thinking critically about where energy transfer is lost and how it can be harvested. Most importantly I would stress the efficiency analysis so they realize why your little device isn't the answer to all their problems (but with enough research and knowledge they might find a better solution). You know, give them a little lesson on initial cost versus return and figure out how long it would take your device sitting there at that external temperature for you to fully recoup your cost.
My work here is dung.
I recall seeing somewhere a stationary bike apparatus, e.g. "treadmill", which triatheletes use in the off-season. It's a frame that you put your own bicycle onto, and then pedal away like there is no tomorrow.
The frame I saw folded up into something pretty small and easily portable. I don't know if bicycles are as popular in Alaska as they are in the lower 48, but if so then perhaps a student would volunteer their own for a few days during your presentations.
You'd want to modify the apparatus so that it could be used to power a lamp, or something else that you would likely find at each destination. In fact, purpose-built treadmills-as-power-generators probably exist.
A nice side-effect of such an apparatus is that it tangibly illustrates just how much power even a small lamp consumes, considering how hard students need to pedal to generate the electricity required. You could demonstrate that CFL lights use less electricity by demonstrating that they don't have to pedal as hard to light it, and could show that the excess electricity of the incandescent lamp is converted to heat with a simple non-contact, IR thermometer like those sold at Radio Shack. Then swap the lamp for an X-Box, etc. etc.
Teaching students to use less electricity is an even better goal than teaching them new ways to generate it.
b.g.
In Alaska, would solar be a good choice for sustainable energy? Or would wind and tidal (hydro) power be more relevant? I think a small wind turbine would be a better choice for your demo.
Simplest would be a laptop with the right software. I don't know what might be available software-wise, but a little research should turn up something.
Is there a reason you can't use a grow light instead of solar power from the sun?
For an elaborate solution, assuming you have internet access from the remote sites... Do a 'Silent Running' type Biosphere somewhere sunny, with robots that can be remotely controlled to perform tasks as needed in this biosphere. The students would love it and you would get good publicity for the program as well as some corporate sponsorships if you pull it off.
That's all I got for you.
- WildTech
You have them build them, check out the results, and then you can say "Now you know why solar isn't a panacea for our energy needs."
How about an infrared camera and those foam things you stick behind AC wall sockets?
Take the IR camera outside to see where the biggest losses are.
here's one: http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-Microbial-Fuel-Cell-MFC-Part-II/
You can google up a bunch of alternatives, and buy simple kits if your budget runs to that. But the ingredients are cheap, you could save money kitting up a bunch yourself.
It's been a while since I learned about Alaska, but don't they have significant methane trapped in peat moss? That could be a good tie in to the methanole fuel.
Another option would be to get a miniaturized steam engine. People may think they are antiquated, but steam is what generates almost all of the electricity in this country. The heat can come from geo-thermal, nuclear, solar salts, coal, etc... but it all does the same thing: boil water.
-Rick
"Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
I suggest diving into the synthetic biology movement. Take a look at the BioBricks Foundation. Search the Registry of Standard Biological Parts. Maybe there is something missing that you might contribute. Join iGEM, the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition. It is a worldwide synthetic biology competition aimed mostly at undergraduate university and high school students. Some people there are doing amazing eco-friendly projects. And don't be scared by the recent anti-science hysteria. Genetic engineering in general and synthetic biology in particular is not as hard as people tend to think. It doesn't even has to be too serious. For example, in 2006 the MIT team engineered E. coli to produce a wintergreen scent during exponential phase and a banana scent during stationary phase, known as the "banana-fart" bacteria. Some kids are engineering just amazing DNA to produce bacteria that help to digest pollution, or converts sunlight into energy that is easy to use. There is a lot to be done in synthetic biology and both BioBricks and iGEM are directed towards young people who want to experiment and collaborate, without the need to synthesise everything from scratch. You don't need sunlight to do that and you don't need expensive equipment any more. These days people are sending DNA by email and change it like it was just a computer program - which it is in a sense, but it is software that builds hardware. This is truly amazing stuff and I believe this the future of fixing our planet. We have to help mother nature. And this is the most optimal way to do it - from the ground up. iGEM and BioBricks is a great way for young students to dive into it.
Karma: Positive (probably because of superiour intellect)
that you are pushing a technology that has flaws and you can't demo it because of the flaws. Maybe isn't the solve all problems solution that some think it is, unless you live in a sunny place. Change to something that is relevant for the area, not something that they will see has no impact on them.
to drive your solar panel! Problem solved. Then teach them about the Law of Thermodynamics and the folly of perpetual motion machines in history. Then talk about the data from: http://physics.ucsd.edu/do-the-math/2011/07/galactic-scale-energy/, and the infeasibility of any energy source to satisfy the hungry maw of exponential energy consumption. Then you might consider a small wind turbine (driven by a fan, of course--no I'm serious, you could use the fan as a prop and explain what happens when you reverse the energy path), and touch on geothermal and tidal power. Tidal power is something you could make your own prop for (just add water on-site and be the wave machine).
Still think the Sun Lamp idea is funniest and quite realistic given the craze to trade food for energy and other such nonsensical ideas.
Your problem is actually the countries problem. Green Energy works good in some spots and not all. Solar, Wind, Tidal, Hydroelectric, all have good and bad locations. More portable energy, Coal, Oil, Nuclear. Can be planned for and allocated and distributed anywhere for 24/7 usage, however tends to carry a larger environmental cost (Or just crazy people who fear it blindly like for Nuclear).
I remember in school an important lesson that most people do not get about environmentalism. Everything you do has a trade-off. How many fish die in those Tidal/Hydroelectric power. How many trees will you need to knock down for you Solar/Wind farm and what do do about night/no wind... There isn't any golden ticket for free energy they all come with a cost. Right now we are seeing the Fossil Fuels have been giving off there costs for too long and is making the problem worse.
You should be teaching those kids about trade offs, not some magical future tech that will solve all our problems. Explain how to generate electricity how we use different types of energy. How usually when changing one energy to an other there is often a loss to a different form of energy that isn't useful. How to store energy, batteries, flywheels, springs... Heck show them when you stretch a rubber-band it gets warmer, and if you let it contract it gets cooler.
You need to train kids to be think clearly environmentalism not envionuts and go out wasting more resources to stop all the evils that come up.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Why not ask the university? Seriously, any student or professor worth knowing will take five minutes and try to think up a program or two.
-- IANAL, this isn't legal advice, and definitely isn't legal advice for you. Also, Squee!
My suggestion is a field trip to Costa Rica...:-)
Twenda Learning: Educational Apps that Engage.
Rocket stoves and fuel efficiency.
A thermal camera along with a study of various insulators such as foams, plastic, types of glass panes.
Make some kind of DIY motor that runs on snow. Should work given temperature differences. And has a nice "But that's impossible!" factor.
DIY paper recycling.
DIY plastic bag recycling by boiling them in a pan. You can make nice strong plastic this way. Heck bring a mold and make some kind of knick knack they get to take home. Be sure it has a logo and website stamped on it somewhere.
Turn a small DC motor into a wind-powered generator.
Cwm, fjord-bank glyphs vext quiz
Maybe something to do with organic batteries? I don't have any hands on experience, but they do exist, and some don't involve toxic chemistry. I sort of vaguely think there are even some very minor practical applications in some places. At the very least, you should be able to gin up enough power to light an LED or spin a small motor from a kit you can carry in your suitcase. Maybe you can even generate/store power from/in something cobbled together from local materials at the school.
You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
Also ask on www.fieldlines.com
That's where a lot of renewable energy people hang out. (Among them is "Wild In Alaska", who built a wind turbine out of a scrap garbage disposal motor to power his pickup camper.)
Obvious choices for Alaska are:
- Wind power.
- Thermoelectric on exhaust from wood-burning house heating systems.
- Heat engines ditto. Sterling or steam. (Note that these are mainly experimental at this point. No commercial systems are available as far as I know for generation from waste heat at less than industrial size instalations.)
- Diesel generators running on biodiesel fuel (from food production waste) with exhaust heat scavenged for heating.
- Solar in SUMMER.
All of these - along with related battery storage, control systems, house heating, energy conservation, etc., are discussed extensively on that board.
And most of them are impractical in much of Alaska.
Why are the Alaska schools hosting and promoting this? Alaska is NOT a good site for renewable energy: Extreme cold. Winter storms that can knock down, tear up, or ice up a wind turbine - in an environment where repair work is hazardous. Negligible to zero solar input for months when energy is most needed. Main available energy resources are wood, crude oil, natural gas, and animal fat. The price/performance ratio on virtually all renewable energy systems is even more horrendous there than in the contiguous forty-eight.
This sounds to me like the politically correct school administrators have run amok. Unless it is intended to teach them what they'll find if they move to other states.
I strongly recommend that you ALSO teach them that the current systems are not cost-effective in their area.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Heheh. Sara Palin is dumb and stuff. Hehehe. Hehehe.
Try your snowsuit at -40 degrees. Temperatures where if you chuck a mugful of freshly boiled water in the air, it's frozen before it hits the ground.
Granted, it only gets that low a few times a year in Fairbanks, but I'd personally be trying to stay indoors as much as possible even at, say, 30 below.
I bet the Eskimos (as you're encouraged to call them in Alaska) stay indoors as much as they can in those temperatures. Hunt on dry land in the summer; hunt on the sea ice in spring until it thaws. Store stuff and bed down for winter. (This is based on hazy recollections of a guided tour of Barrow -- in the summer)
1-3 day projects regarding sustainable energy and environmental sciences
Most/all of the answers have been mostly boxed engineering demos, not actual science projects.
The most obvious science project I can think of is gathering a whole bunch of snow, melting it, and figuring out what is inside it other than H2O.
I have done this, and there is a whole heck of a lot of pollen, and all manner of strange dusts under a microscope. Also just plain ole dirt. And its fun to "core sample" once you've got multiple snowfalls. Its easy to see distinct layers.
I'm thinking your suitcase and budget are not big enough for chemical analysis but a Really good trinocular microscope with video output to a TV is probably realistic. Add some ruled counting slides (forget the proper terminology, sorry) and some buckets / beakers to melt the water, maybe a tiny centrifuge and test tubes to concentrate "whatever"... Get yourself a wide collection of variable pore size filter papers and the chemistry gear to do vacuum filtration thru the various sizes.
Final advice, don't collect the yellow snow.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
how mis-informed can one individual be?
so a teacher asks for help and you slam him? if you have no constructive ideas, please don't post.
I lived in Alaska for 4 1/2 years starting in 1971. I was very fortunate to have a high school physics teacher that was very interested in real, usable, inexpensive energy conservation projects. We weren't eco-nuts, just kids learning valuable lessons. We covered subjects as wide ranging as berm-housing to geo-thermal to solar energy. As pointed out by jellomizer all had good and bad points but we studied each and tried to understand their impact.
I live in Maine and insulation is a big thing here in the winter. Buy one of these http://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-TLD100-Thermal-Detector/dp/B001LMTW2S
Go around the school, or class room and look for thermal leaks, ask students to find ways to solve these leaks. You can even map out areas that are most common to thermal leaks.
Maybe you could create a shoe box sized demo refrigerator that had a copper plate on the back and insulation on the front and sides such that the copper plate side would be exposed to the outside air to keep food cold while allowing the interior heat not to escape due to the insulation in the front and sides of the mini fridge.
I live in Maine and insulation is a big thing here in the winter. Buy one of these http://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-TLD100-Thermal-Detector/dp/B001LMTW2S Go around the school, or class room and look for thermal leaks, ask students to find ways to solve these leaks. You can even map out areas that are most common to thermal leaks.
-- By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.
I dont ask a random community to secure my future from my incompetence, I ask other professionals in the field
I would not want a teacher anywhere near my kids who's effort includes looking a a few solar projects out of a book and running to slashdot.
Your experience sounds fine, sounds like you had a teacher who cared, this one however has the imagination of a brick, the professionalism of a bum, and sofar has spent a whole 2 paragraphs of effort to figure out what they are going to do.
Ive had good luck with demonstrations in Alaska of Sterling Engines and other external combustion technologies. They are quite popular for Alaskan audiences since the majority of the state has no central power grid, and in many cases no traditional running water, but will have a wood fire burning most of the year. Sterling engines for power generation, or even simple circulation systems that can be used to heat water for bathing (we filled a canoe with water and rigged a pedal power pump to circulate the water through a coil of copper tubing buried in the coals of a campfire)
Common Sense isn't as Common as people think...
Since your flying from village to village your probably looking at southeast and/or a Aleutian islands. One thing those kinds of places have in abundance is waves. Perhaps you could find or create a wave generator demonstration kit.
I think you underestimate just how much I just dont care.
Help explain why the 2010 oil spill disappeared fairly quickly in 85 degree Gulf of Mexico water and slowly in 40 degree Prince William Sound water in 1989. Maybe the ambient microbes matter too.
Congratulations on your new global-citizen-indoctrination job. I'm sure you'll do well, but you first need to understand that the "eco-project" that you're expected to present is NOT supposed to teach science or critical thinking or anything along those lines - instead, it should emphasize the importance of the students' sacrifices for the common good, reliance on appointed "experts" for the amount of sacrifice required, and their total submission to the global leaders for guidance in every aspect of their lives. Think of it as your contribution to "positive societal transformation".
You can find some really good reference material right here, and be sure to check out this stuff. Good Luck!!
"Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
--- Jerry Garcia
I would amplify some of the comments suggesting a non-engineering solution by saying that, if you have not already done so, you might capitalize on some existing programs already extant in the state. Among these, there are or two LTER Schoolyard programs in Alaska. Schoolyard is the outreach and education component of the National Science Foundation's Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network. The Bonanza Creek LTER and their Schoolyard Programis hosted at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and, although the Arctic LTER is hosted at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA, their Schoolyard Program does have a local component. Each may have ideas and directions you can use.
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool. -Richard Feynman
Since the tree lines runs through the state. Yes, Alaska has lots of trees – but vast areas lie north of the tree line. Since he talks about flying into remote areas I would guess he would be far, far north. I would lay odds that the students have access to wood chips – but it is no guaranty.
I don't think the tree line is where you think. Note that it is the dark green line, not the orange line:
http://maps.grida.no/go/graphic/tree-line-in-the-arctic
There is no shortage of remote settlements below the tree line. And above the tree line you will find mostly oil industry workers.
Living in Alaska myself, my first thought was perhaps a miniature biomass CHP(Combined Heat&Power) utilizing a stirling engine.
Basically, you burn wood, the heat drives a small stirling engine that generates a few watts, with the waste heat recovered to help heat the home.
20% electricity, 60% heat.
I don't read AC A human right
Depends on whether he's flying in a commercial airliner, or more likely, in some dude's little 2-seater, in which case it wouldn't be a problem.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Mine exploded about half way down this page, I'm gonna stop buying the expensive ones :-(
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
It's been said that getting a 100% of all our energy needs for the next thousand years wouldn't reduce the Earth's core temperature one degree so it's a potential long term solution.
Wow, makes you think...even if that's assuming no increase in energy use that's damn impressive.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Bring along digital voice recorders such as those used for dictation, a couple of laptops, plus digital still cameras, possible a small and cheap digital video camera. Get your students to interview the village elders about THEIR knowledge, and post the results to the web on your return. After all, these folks are part of a culture that survives in a hostile world right next door to Mars. Let them show and tell YOU what arctic science is all about.
You don't say what portion of the state you are in. What about geothermal?
Other options include wind, tidal, and wave energy sources. These may be interesting simply because of the technical challenges posed by the local conditions.
Three specific resources I would look into:
- The Anchorage School District used to have a Science Resource Center with modular prepackaged lessons. Assuming the center still exists I would suspect they may have some great ideas and probably would have some lesson plans they could email you.
- Contact the offices of any or all of the oil companies in Anchorage (or a local office if there is one). They actively search for this sort of thing because it is good publicity and they have lots or resources to draw from.
- Contact the offices of the native corporation that covers your portion of the state. I'm certain they are actively looking at renewable projects as they are always interested in investing local and long term.
I suggest you do some research about it.
The saline solution in several glasses creates a charge at the right temperature.
Worked great for me several years ago lol
The farther north you go the lower altitude treeline is. You go far enough north and treeline is below sea level.
So the "far north: that the posted question eludes to is either treeless or has a few little black spruce that might be about as tall as you are. Using a black spruce from anywhere near the arctic circle as a "renewable resource" is laughable. A spruce tree 1" in diameter that is that far north is probably 100+ years old.
Surprised I am the first to mention it. Garbage reactors turn biological waste into either heat or natural gas. I think in the freezing cold of an alaskan winter nice reactor connected to heat exchanger or a gas burner would make everyone feel a bit bitter. The trouble is it takes a while to get the reaction going, if this is a one day project idea that might not work. A small reactor will fit in light aircraft when empty though.
Energy efficiency experiments would be especially relevant. If you're dealing with visiting students in the winter months, then an IR camera would be hugely relevant and rather cool to use: shine it at the walls and windows, see that the windows leak far more than the walls, and see that the walls don't equally protect against heat. While a good quality IR camera isn't particularly cheap, more and more utilities are purchasing them for their own energy efficiency programs (many times mandated by law), so you may be able to borrow it or co-write a grant.
Have you looked at fuel cells. There are lost of educational fuel cell kits available. http://www.fuelcellstore.com/en/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=12
One of the most needed technologies for regions beyond +-60 degrees latitude is long term
stable and controllable heat reservoir storage.
Knowing what kind and how much insulation to use to store a specific number of
calories for an indefinite period of time is a major experiment.
Also, what types of materials are best for storage of heat.
If you can store heat. You can use it later.
I don't know if you can find this as a project "in a box", but ... As a 50 year plus resident of Alaska and someone that used to be involved with the oil industry and later alternative energy, I have always been fainated by the possibilities of the Sterling engine since first learing of it.
Most seem to think of the Sterling as a "heat" engine, I've always looked at it as more of a tempurature differential situation. Not that difficult to find, even in Winter.
You might also check out "Micro Combined Heat & Power", micro-CHP. A varient of the Sterling engine principals.
We may have long dark Winters, but come Summer and you have 18 to 24 hours of sun shining on your building, you want to have someplace to put that heat and save it for Winter. Or at least use the energy from it for something useful and save your money for next Winter's heating bill.