Solar panels and smart bins were the stars this week, as Mount Waverley Secondary College and Wellington Secondary College took part in our Superproblems - Optimising Superpowers Program. Last week also saw John Monash Science School, South Oakleigh College, and Brentwood Secondary College create a smart cooling and heating system, implement energy monitoring, and install solar panels that would save schools money.
The Superproblems Program challenges high school students to think of how they can reimagine energy usage in schools and make their schools more sustainable. Working with their classmates, students need to identify an area that their school could reduce and better their energy usage, and then create a plan for how they will achieve this improvement.
On the first day, the students analysed their schools to find what efforts had been made to be sustainable, and where improvements could be made.
Visiting Monash Tech the next day, they spent the morning learning about the technology behind solar power, how different materials can affect the temperature in buildings, and learnt how to analyse and minimise their schools’ power bills. With this new knowledge, students thought of an idea to make their schools more sustainable and created a prototype to demonstrate it.
Wellington Secondary College put together a solar power system at their school, while Glen Waverley Secondary College came up with a plan to revolutionise their schools rubbish habits with smart bins.
On the final day, the students pitched their ideas to a panel of experts, who gave them feedback and advice on how to proceed with the idea to make it a reality.
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