Local kids impress judges with energy-efficient entries
The Garden Route has much to boast about as two local entries have been selected for the finals in the national Eskom ETA awards, given annually to individuals and groups who have innovative ideas or inventions for energy efficiency.
The competition has three rounds. After initial submissions of projects or designs, some of these are chosen for presentation to a panel of judges in Johannesburg in the semi-finals. The finalists are then chosen from these and the awards dished out during a gala ceremony in November.
The two groups that have reached this year’s finals hail from Bracken Hill Primary in Knysna (also see ‘Knysna parents oppose closure of rural schools’ on the Home page) and Bay College in Plett, the latter being an enviro club operating under the name Girls Looking Forward, who caught the attention of judges with their Low and Slow submission.
This project measured the difference in amounts of electricity used when the exact same meal was cooked in a microwave, on stove top, and in a slow cooker.
Their research declared the slow cooker as winner, using only 17% of the power used by a microwave, and about 30% of that used on stove top. This amounts to a considerable saving, with the added benefit of using electricity out of peak hours.
The Bracken Hill students were flown to Joburg to show judges the methods they are using to reduce wood consumption in their village, which has no electricity and is dependent on wood for energy needs.
They demonstrated how wood consumption can be reduced by using a black pipe to heat water, a ‘hot box’ with cushions to cook food in retained heat, a small clay oven that uses just a few twigs for cooking, and coals home-made from recycled paper.
The project, titled Leave the Wood on the Trees, demonstrated that a saving of over 50% in wood consumption can be made.
Both groups are supported by Wessa and Eskom’s Energy and Sustainability Programme, which encourages development and projects in schools and groups on the topics of energy and sustainability (eta is the Greek symbol for efficiency).
Last year, Plett’s Greenwood Independent School won the prestigious eta award so here’s hoping this year’s Garden Route finalists also get a go at glory. For more information or to do a project at your school, call Susan Donald on 071 677 0264.
Source: CXpress