The floppy disk contained information on related renewable energy technologies and an interactive PV exercise. The enclosed literature provided information on the use of equipment. The 1995 distribution included 75 high schools in the Washington, DC area. Taking the First Step Hopefully, this article will inspire readers to think of ways to initiate similar projects in the local communities. We also found that some limited volunteer time is needed to get materials to teachers.
Programs can start with just one school at a time, or one district or one county.
We discovered that many high school teaches welcome ways to present traditional science materials in a fresh new way. Solarex, a leading manufacturer of photovoltaics located in Frederick, Maryland, happened to have extra PV panels available and graciously donated these panels to our project. In addition to the physical components of the kit, Christopher Gronbeck donated information and an interactive PV exercise, both of which provide guidance to the user. The exercise visually demonstrates the number of PV panels and batteries needed to supply energy for different household appliances for the various insolation levels across the 50 states. The companies' generous gifts combined with the donations of time and energy by volunteers made this project possible.