JAN. 25, 2010—Temperatures hovered around freezing as students from throughout the region carried their newly-constructed solar collectors into the bright January sunlight for testing. Looking like a simple wooden box, each solar thermal panel had an interior of black-coated insulation board, a cover of clear vinyl and a probe thermometer. Minutes after placing their panels properly in the sun, students were watching interior temperatures rise to 54 degrees, 72 degrees and eventually 125 degrees Fahrenheit. Meanwhile, full-sized panels assembled by workshop presenter John Duevel registered temperatures around 170 degrees.
These and other area students were participants in the Youth Energy Summit (YES!) Winter Workshop held Jan. 13 at Prairie Woods Environmental Learning Center (PWELC) near Spicer. Eighty students and 11 coaches took part in activities at local sites featuring renewable energy and efficiency. To focus their day’s activities, participants selected one of three tracks: Wind and Solar, Food/Energy/Waste and Energy Audits and Green Building.
Tour sites included Willmar Municipal Utilities’ wind turbines, Willmar High School’s Greenhouse located on the MinnWest Technology Campus and an energy efficient home under construction by Ridgewater College in collaboration with Cities Edge Architects. At PWELC, students toured various renewable energy installations guided by business people Derek Otteson, Empire Plumbing and Heating; Bob Ryan, Sunrise Agra Fuels; and Dan Tepfer, Kandiyohi Power Cooperative. Heartland Community Action Agency provided the services of two certified energy auditors to help students recognize the potential for saving energy in existing homes.
Annette Derouin, Food Service Director at Willmar Public Schools, discussed how a program called Farm-to-School can reduce energy consumption, improve nutrition and benefit local economies. Doug Johnson of Creekside Composting presented about Hutchinson’s community-scale composting facility. Finally, members of Minnesota’s Green Corps shared expertise about recycling.
Students at the Winter Workshop are members of YES! teams, all of whom are working on energy action projects throughout their school year. In upcoming months, projects of 12 area teams will be judged by a panel of experts, who will then award prizes for excellence. Teams are guided by staff from PWELC and are provided with the knowledge, networks and leadership skills to place them at the forefront of our region’s future renewable energy workforce.
YES! 2009-2010 is administered by the Southwest Initiative Foundation, implemented through partnerships with Prairie Woods Environmental Learning Center and Prairie Ecology Bus Center, and funded in part by the Minnesota Renewable Energy Marketplace: An Alliance for Talent Development. For more information, visit www.youthenergysummit.com, or call Southwest Initiative Foundation at 800-594-9480.
