Science and technology continue to get a big push at Trinity Academy, where yesterday a science fair showcased energy conservation.
A variety of displays by the students showed a high level of quality and creativity.
Assistant principal Patricia Crichlow said efforts were being made to build the children’s awareness of the importance of conserving nature and using as little energy as possible.
She explained that each child had to complete an individual project and they were encouraged to interpret energy conservation as widely as they wanted to.
“Each child has been able to find something that they can understand and explain. That is the whole point; that they would have learnt something,” Crichlow said.
Principal Michael Crichlow said the school will be looking to attract corporate sponsors in the future so that the ideas of the students could be further developed.
“There are a lot of good ideas out there that if developed can impact the society,” the principal said.
The highlight of the science fair was a wind turbine by Marc-Anthony Hinkson.
Hinkson’s project, called Harnessing Wind Energy, used the wind to create electricity to charge a car battery that could be used as a power supply.
Hinkson explained that the size of the turbine and the wind speed determined the amount of energy produced, but his system produced 400 watts, enough energy to power a small household appliance.
He said that although that was a small amount compared with the 469 kWh his family used per month it could still lead to a decrease in the amount used and lower the electricity bill.
Erin Mahon of Infants B showed how English potatoes can produce enough energy to power a small digital clock. The six-year-old said that with the help of her mother she used zinc and copper plates which were inserted into the potato and attached to the clock.
Kezia Burnett of Class 2 explained that her project, called Conserving Energy, which used a solar cook box and took four days to complete, could be used to cook food. She said she had attempted to cook an egg but the weather conditions were not suitable but ideally when the sun hit the reflector panels and shone on the glass it produced enough solar energy to cook some foods.
Nikolai Goodridge described the process of converting used cooking oil into biodiesel. He said that with the help of a family friend who owns Paradise Green Energy Incorporated he learnt how to use methanol and crystallite to separate the glycerine from the biodiesel.
Greenidge explained that after the two-and-a-half-day process the biodiesel could be used in cars, buses or trucks that use diesel. It was also good for the environment because it produced lower emissions and no greenhouse gases; and it was good for the lungs and was non-toxic, he said.
