Image Credit: woodleywonderworks/Flickr
Oh how far we have come from the days of the simple gravity-powered pinewood derby of yore. Students in the Exploring Technology and Career class at Challenger Middle School in Florida have been learning a lot about alternative-energy transportation, building model cars powered by CO2 and solar energy and racing them against their classmates. Teacher David Ernst used $500 in grant money given to him through the Florida Power and Light Renewable Energy Teacher Grant Program in order to buy supplies for the project dubbed “Go! Go! Speed (Solar) Racer!”. Speaking with the local News Press, Ernst said “it lets them come up with their own solutions to solve problems. The world’s changing, we can’t rely on oil forever.”
The cars are carved or formed out of lightweight balsa wood and foam, and have axles made from bike wheel spokes, miniature solar cells or CO2 providing power, and strings to help steer them. During construction, students learned not only about CO2 and solar energy but also about car mechanics, studying everything from chassis to transmission. Groups of four to five students each are working together to design, build, and test their own working cars. They have run-off races against each other to test their technology, all in preparation for the big race against all the other teams on May 16th.
The Florida Power and Light Renewable Energy Teacher Grant Program is sponsored by the NextEra Energy Foundation, the Florida utility’s parent company. It is now in its third year and has awarded more than $122,000 for 84 teacher projects. For 2012, 37 teachers have received grants totaling $39,000 to help them teach students about renewable energy. Projects include the solar-powered cars, wind turbine construction, and solar-powered water heaters.