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Educational FUN Solar Projects

Some fun and educational solar projects for kids or for the kid in all of us. These are projects for students that involve renewable energy, solar physics, model wind generators, PV powered boats and cars, and even a solar balloon.

Projects

Places to see

Programs

If you have or see any good material for this area, please let me know.

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Projects
SunChaser Education Program, New Mexico Solar Energy Association The "SunChaser" trailer: www.nmsea.org/SunChaser2/SunChaser2.htm And, an even more portable "kit": www.nmsea.org/SunChaser2/Solar_Kits.htm	This is a neat program that uses a trailer full of displays of renewable energy applications. The trailer makes visits on request. This program is probably limited to NM, but you could start one in your state. They have developed a whole series of kits to demonstrate energy efficiency and solar energy. I'm sure they would be interested in helping others set up similar programs.
Florida Solar Energy Center -- Education http://www.fsec.ucf.edu/en/education/index.htm	The FSEC has a whole raft of educational programs for kids. Lots of good material.
Solar Energy Coloring Book, Texas Solar Energy Society, www.txses.org The coloring book (pdf)	Quite a neat solar energy coloring book!! From the Texas Solar Energy Society
House Design Energy Experiments For Students http://designcoalition.org/kids/energyhouse/pdfpage.htm	An interesting set of experiments for students to understand energy use in homes. You start by making a model house from a cardboard box, and then measure the effects of windows, insulation, air leaks, thermal mass, ... The only instrumentation required is a thermometer. The "Furnace" is a glass of hot water. It looks like a really fun way to learn about home design and experimental techniques. If only the people who are now laying out housing areas and building homes had been exposed to this!
Lighter, Brighter, and Cooler: An Analysis of the Effect of Roofing Albedo on Ambient Temperature www.amnh.org/nationalcenter/youngnaturalistawards/2007/Ryan.html	Quite an impressive student science project/experiment on the effect of roof reflectivity on temperatures on and in the structure.
Junior Solar Sprint Program http://www.nrel.gov/education/jss_hfc.html	Information on setting up a solar model car program for students. Car kits, car construction hints, and information on setting up these programs.
Junior Solar Sprint Program in the NE http://www.basea.org	A successful Junior Solar Sprint program in MA.
Renewable Energy Canada http://www.re-energy.ca/t_teacher.shtml	This is a great site for introducing kids to renewable energy -- lots of hands-on projects and painless learning. Solar oven and vertical axis windmill that can be built as student projects. Lesson plans, posters, ...
Renewable Energy Canada http://www.re-energy.ca/t-i_waterbuild-1.shtml Plans (1MB pdf) Template (74K pdf)	A very slick little water turbine to generate electricity.
Juice from Juice, Jill Johnsen and Stephanie Chasteen, Exploratorium Teacher Institute www.exo.net/ ...	"With iodine, blackberry juice, and a few simple materials, you can create a working solar cell that mimics the process of photosynthesis." An interesting lab experiment from the Exploratorium Teachers Institute.
Wind Stuff Now -- One Hour Windmill www.windstuffnow.com/main/one_hour_projects.htm	A quick and simple windmill that can be built in a short time. I would think some wind physics labs could be developed from this?
Pico Turbine Windmill Kits www.picoturbine.com	If you want to get started in wind generation in a really small way, here's the site. Lots of other interesting wind related materials on the site. Well done plans for this desk top turbine are a free download.
A Wind Energy-Powered Charger Kelly s. Isaac www.motherearthnews.com	Mother Earth News Article, Issue 138 June/July 1993 This small, vertical axis windmill is not going to power your house, but it would make a great school project to get some hands on experience with wind generators.
Solar Hot Air Balloons http://perso.wanadoo.fr/ballonsolaire/en-index.htm	Small (and not so small) scale solar hot air balloons -- very interesting.
HP106 Make A Solar Fountain! Hal Aronson and Tor Allen How to get articles from Home Power ...	Home Power Magazine article, issue 106 Good article of doing a PV powered solar fountain as a school project.
Solar Cars for Pleasure or Competition Tina M. Sorenson How to get articles from Home Power ...	Home Power Magazine article, issue 53 Elementary students learn about solar power by building and racing solar electric model cars.
Running The Minnesota Solar Boat Regatta Ralph Jacobson and Tom Roark How to get articles from Home Power ...	Home Power Magazine article, issue 59 A neat program middle/high school students build and race solar PV powered boats. Quite a bit of detail on how the program is run.
Solar Activities for Students North Carolina Solar Center Solar For Students (pdf)	Several solar projects for students from the North Carolina Solar Center
List of kids oriented websites Renewable Resource Data Center http://rredc.nrel.gov/kidzlinks.html	List of kids oriented websites from the Renewable Resource Data Center
3 Phase Wind Turbine Kit From WindStuffNow.com Wind Turbine Kit	This is an inexpensive wind turbine kit that looks like it would be fun to build as a student project. Look at the plans
A sterling Engine from Pop Cans www.physics.sfasu.edu	A demonstration sterling engine made from pop cans.
Pager Motors dot com www.pagermotors.com Robots	Inexpensive kits for several solar cell powered robot kits. All with very complete online tutorials showing how to build them.
Solar Kits from Silicon Solar http://www.siliconsolar.com/educational-solar-kits.php	A variety of solar kits for students.
Make a Solar Power Marshmallow Roaster Alternate Energy Hobby Store -- Marshmallow Roaster	Solar marshmallow roaster using a Fresnel lens to concentrate the sun. Nice write-up with some lens Physics.
Solar Site Survey ...	This is the Solar Site Survey that I recommend people do before building any project that relies on solar radiation. I think it also makes a great learning project that: 1) Shows the use of the Sun Chart to determine the daily path of the sun through the sky through the full year. With this one small chart, you can pinpoint the position of the sun at any instant throughout the full year, and gain an understanding of the seasonal changes in the sun's path. Just learning how to use the Sun Chart alone would make a great lesson. 2) Uses two simple handmade gages to measure the direction and elevation of obstacles that might shade a solar collector. The "skyline" of obstacles is plotted on the sun chart to determine what times of the year and day your collector will be in sun. The whole thing could be done as a couple one hour exercises. Coming to understand how the path of the sun changes through the seasons is a useful for everything from designing solar homes to planning outdoor activities. It is something that amazingly few adults understand. This could easily feed into further sessions on passive solar home design, or solar electricity, passive cooling ...
Understanding the Suns Path and Making a Sun Dial Sundial and Sun Path Lesson	Lesson plan for making a sun dial and understanding the path across the sky (knowledge lacking in most adults).
Omniscience Futureneering www.webcom.com/sknkwrks/welcome.htm	With the possible exception of the small Sterling engines, this site has nothing to do with solar, but it has some really interesting DIY projects. "O.F. was a high-school-based science/engineering/inventing club. It was founded on the premise that the best way to learn about anything was to design it, make it or modify it and then to use it." Some of these projects definitely require supervision.
Places to see Looking for more of these -- know of any?
Green House at the National Building Museum www.nbm.org/Exhibits/greenHouse2/greenHouse.htm	This looks like an interesting set of green building exhibits with some hands-on. If you find yourself in DC, check it out.
Programs
Shcoolgen http://www.schoolgen.co.nz/default.aspx	Interesting NZ program that combines solar electric projects at schools with renewable energy material and projects for school kids.

Gary May 15, 2008