Students Create Solar-Powered AC Outlet With LEGOs
Kids today. You let them play with a LEGO MINDSTORMS kit and what do they do? They build a solar powered AC outlet and 12 volt DC power port. At least, that’s what some enterprising students at New York City’s Little Red School House and Elizabeth Irwin High School did in the courtyard of the Brooklyn Ecoeatery restaurant.
The Off-Grid Outlet has a tracking mechanism to make sure that it always points towards the sun. The outlet’s users can control the solar panel using switches, and can watch the relationship between the panel and the energy captured via embedded displays.
So who will actually get to make use of the roving outlet?
For now, the Off-Grid Outlet will function as a charger for laptops and other portable electronic devices in the Brooklyn Ecoeatery’s courtyard. And if you happen to be hanging around Brooklyn on June 11th between 4pm and 7 pm, you can watch the students take the outlet on a test drive there.
The creation of the Off-Grid Outlet was led by Habana Works, a Brooklyn-based organization that provides free programs to unite community members around the cause of improving both human and natural habitats. Habana Works programs include Urban Studio Brooklyn, Kid’s Corner, Habana Labs, and Garden Works.
It sounds like they’re doing some great things so far!
Photo Credit: wili_hybrid at Flickr under a Creative Commons License
THAT IS AWESOME. (legos were my only toy as a kid, so I’m biased)
Evidence we may have a bright future.