Clean Energy Olympics and Training
During the annual Clean Energy Olympics, students work in teams to design and build a model wind turbine or solar project at home or school and bring it to the competition to measure the energy output in a wind tunnel and present their design to a panel of judges.
Materials and rules are based on the KidWind organization. Scoring combines points from energy produced, documentation of turbine or solar array design and subject matter knowledge. The Clean Energy Olympics is open to 4th-12th graders, with Elementary (4th-5th), Middle School (6th-8th) and High School (9th-12th) divisions. The annual hybrid competition is held at the end of March or beginning of April. Teams can participate in person (in Anchorage or Mat-Su) or virtually. Top teams from each division are invited to the World KidWind Challenge usually held in May every year.
Sign up for Energy Education emails to be notified at the beginning of each spring semester for a free training on wind and solar energy in Alaska. In the training, you will develop the skills and tools you need to successfully enter teams of students in the Clean Energy Olympics held each March or April. Teachers, parents and other adults who plan to attend the Challenge with a team of students are all invited to participate in the training. Continuing education credit may be available for interested teachers.
About Wind for Schools
Wind for Schools was a program active from 2005-2020 funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Wind Powering America program and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
Alaska is one of eleven states which participated in the Wind for Schools program. Now, REAP educators collaborate with other educational organizations in the US through REpowering Schools, a national non profit which grew out of the Wind for Schools program.
REAP provides classroom visits to model wind and solar lessons and trainings to help teachers implement activities. REAP’s focus is schools around the state where community-scale wind or solar projects have been installed and students can easily visit the installation.
There are also currently seven small turbines connected to the electric grid in the state that were installed through the Wind for Schools program between 2009 and 2011. Those installations serve as on-site demonstration projects that allow students to collect and analyze the performance data of the turbines.
Current turbines
There are seven small wind turbines in Alaska that were installed through the Wind for Schools program between 2009 and 2011. We are working on reconnecting the turbines to a network so that their electricity output can be seen on OpenEI.
Classroom visits & teacher trainings
We provide classroom visits and teacher trainings statewide.
Request a presentation