Solar Classroom Project - Mobile Alternative Energy Laboratory

 

  

This project was designed to demonstrate the ways alternative energy sources work and to create an advanced solar powered classroom to help educate the next generation of environmentalists. It has the following features:

When fully operational, the trailer will have a full complement of computers, GPS, two way radios, satellite Internet services and community WiFi. The trailer is fully self-sufficient and can operate off the grid indefinitely.

Teachers can propose projects for their classes that make use of the features and capabilities of the trailer. Students can propose their own research projects which make use of the features and capabilities of the trailer. Student proposals should be endorsed by their teachers.

Solar Classroom on the Web - When fully equipped, the trailer will have its own website and will report real time telemetry live on the web. Students will be able to go to the website and see current weather, status of the solar and wind systems, real time video from a webcam.

 

 

  

 

DEDICATION

22 April 2006

 

Mobile Alternative Energy Laboratory - Multipurpose Trailer

 

In Memory of

 

William Clark Vreeland

1916 - 2005

 

It is fitting that on this Earth Day we remember Bill, our loving husband and father. He was a designer, a builder, an inventor, an artist, an innovator, a teacher, a tinkerer, a toymaker, our hero, and a committed environmentalist before environmentalism became popular in the 70s.

 

From his electric vehicles and solar cookers to a thermoelectric generator and the parabolic solar heater he designed and installed at his house, he was always exploring new ideas for energy use and conservation. He would have been happy to see this trailer project taking shape, incorporating features that give it utility and support for multiple purposes. He would be especially happy that it will be used to help educate the next generation of environmentalists.

 

This project is therefore dedicated to his memory and it is our intention that it will be used as a tool for exciting, challenging and educating children about the potential of alternative energy to help build a better future. And we hope that it will, in the spirit of Bill’s incredible creativity and inventiveness, inspire children to become inventors and innovators.