Solar Institute and Schoolhouse Bring Solar Power to Life
Left: Intern students wiring a PV panel at a Solar Living Institute workshop. Photo courtesy of Solar Living Institute Right: The world’s only solar powered carousel, at the Solar Living Institute in Hopland, CA. Photo Courtesy of Solar Living Institute.
By Bill Picture
Published: July, 2008
When it comes to promoting something as un-sexy as solar energy, talk is cheap. Solar experts concede that, despite an acute awareness of the benefits of curbing America’s use of fossil fuels, pamphlets and documentaries just aren’t enough to convince most Americans to go solar. So they have come up with some creative ways to turn the masses on, so to speak, to the exciting opportunities that going solar affords.
So many opportunities exist, says Doron Amiran, Development Director of the Hopland-based Solar Living Institute. But, in order to get people excited about solar energy, you have to make it interesting and inspiring. You have to make it speak to them.
To do that, the Institute is approaching solar energy education from all angles, offering a range of solar-promoting events, demonstrations and workshops throughout the year at its twelve-acre campus in southern Mendocino County. In addition to an introductory workshop for homeowners—which demystifies solar energy by providing a basic understanding of how solar systems work, along with the tools necessary for homeowners to choose the right system and the right contractor—the Solar Living Institute also provides training for individuals who are interested in learning how to install systems.
A lot of the need for information comes from homeowners. So we try to enable them to make intelligent choices, Amiran explains. But there are also a lot of people who want to bring their careers in line with their values. I call them the ‘tool belt crowd.’ They’re trained contractors and electricians who want to offer solar to their customers not just because there’s a growing demand, but also because they believe in it. As part of its efforts, the Solar Living Institute has partnered with SolarRichmond, a city-supported program that trains low-income East Bay residents to install solar systems. The partners were recently awarded a federal grant to establish a permanent office and classroom in Richmond.
Off the streets and onto the roof, Amiran jokes. It’s a green pathway out of poverty.
The Solar Living Institute’s fully solar-powered campus is itself a showcase of sustainable living. And the 200,000-plus people who visit each year walk away with more than just textbook knowledge about solar energy. In order to inspire people, you sometimes have to be dramatic, he says. We have a lot of kids tours, for instance. And, when they get here, they’re pretty unimpressed. Then, we give them a solar-baked cookie or show them our solar-powered carousel. And you see a light go on in their heads. Suddenly, it’s interesting and they want to know more. We want to be a conduit for people to change their lives.
Tactility is a crucial component of the education experience, according to Tor Allen, Executive Director of the Martinez-based Rahus Institute’s Solar Schoolhouse program.
Solar Schoolhouse organizes workshops throughout the state that help K-12 teachers ignite an interest in solar energy by creating hands-on projects that appeal to young minds. The Rahus Institute also produces education tools for teachers and offers online tutorials.
Talking is one thing, he says. But when you put a solar cell in a child’s hand and they get to watch it come alive, you can see the questions start to fire off in their little heads. You have to make that connection for them between science and their own lives, show them how this is real in their world.
Initially, the Solar Schoolhouse program’s goal was a long-term one, to inspire future generations of energy consumers to make smart choices. But Allen says that the results turned out to be far more immediate. The kids get really excited about solar energy, and they take that excitement home with them, he explains. Then, the parents get excited, sometimes enough to investigate going solar themselves.
Right now, teachers have no real incentive to work solar energy into their already-full curriculums, as it is not currently required by the state. So, for the most part, teachers who attend the Solar Schoolhouse workshops and intensives are choosing to do so because they themselves have an interest in solar energy. Tim Hight, Associate Professor and Chair of the Mechanical Engineering Department at Santa Clara University, admits that his decision to serve as an advisor to a group of students from the university competing in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon was inspired by his own interest in solar energy.
I’ve always had an interest in sustainability, he says. So this is right up my alley.
For the second time, Santa Clara University is one of twenty schools invited to design and build a fully working, totally solar-powered, green home on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. SCU competed for the first time in 2007 and won third place.
For the 2009 Solar Decathlon, Santa Clara University, which does not have its own architecture department, is working with California College of the Arts in San Francisco to design the home.
Hight says he fully expected his students to rise to the challenge, but admits he was surprised by the extent to which they got into the solar spirit. A group of students who competed in 2007 are actually starting up a company to be their own solar energy provider, he says. That’s really exciting.
Richard King, Director of the Solar Decathlon, insists he is blown away each time by the ingenuity of the competing teams. But, this year, he says he had a particularly tough time choosing just twenty schools from the forty that submitted proposals. The competition this year is fierce, he explains. There are some really innovative ideas and very sound engineering. It think it’ll be our best year yet.
King hopes that those ideas inspire the 120,000-plus people who turn out each time to view the homes, which are on display in Washington, D.C. for more than a week, to look at how they can make their own homes greener and more energy-efficient and insist upon higher green standards from contractors. To that end, the Decathlon’s obvious goal is to reprogram the minds of soon-to-be architects and engineers to think solar. But King agrees that solar energy education should begin long before college, and that it must include a hands-on component.
Children should be learning about this stuff from day one, he says, starting with something as simple as turning out the lights when you leave the room. Energy is a major concern in everybody’s life, and it’s quickly becoming an expensive commodity. So it should be taught in every classroom across the nation.
Solar Living Institute:
Solar Schoolhouse:
Santa Clara University & California College of the Arts 2009 Solar Decathlon team: www.scu-cca-solar.org
Solar Decathlon:
The Solar Schoolhouse uses hands-on, interactive methods to get children interested in the uses of solar energy. Photos courtesy of Solar Schoolhouse
