Solar power shines for students
Let the sun shine — and provide electric power.
Local high school students won scholarships and awards at the 2015 EmPower Solar Student Competition.
Island Park-based EmPower Solar and Hofstra University hosted the competition, which started in 2011. Student teams had to evaluate the energy consumption and solar potential of a house or building in their community. Their responses were submitted through a written component, mathematical problem solving worksheet, and a YouTube video.
“We need to engage young minds,” said David G. Schieren, CEO of EmPower Solar. “This competition at root is about engaging young minds in our region to get inspired about solar.”
More than 20 teams, including students from Elmont and Lynbrook, competed. This was the first year Hofstra helped with the competition.
After a presentation from local environmental and development groups, including Operation SPLASH, Vision Long Island, and Citizens Campaign for the Environment, the three teams — each with two students — received their awards in a ceremony on July 23 at Hofstra’s Guthart Cultural Center.
Team Sol Invictus from Herricks High School in New Hyde Park won first place, which includes a trip to the U.S. Solar Decathlon in Irvine, California in October. At that competition, teams from all over the world set up energy efficient houses and are tested on 10 measures, that range from comfort to cooking a meal to producing as much energy as it consumes. EmPower first went to the Decathalon in 2005.
Team members and high school juniors Nora Koe and Alan Chen each received a $1,500 scholarship to Hofstra for their first place win. They also won the People’s Choice award for their video because it received the most “likes” — 47. Chen said they got that number through social networking.
“The caliber of student has been always very high,” said Schieren of the competition’s entrants. “Because it has to be a self-selecting, proactive student that has spare time to work on a competition. What I love is when they go to the [Decathalon] and they come back and they tell us all about it.”
