105 children from years 5 and 6 at the Grove school in Totnes have taken part in TRESOC’s two-day Renewable Energy Experiential Learning (REEL) Programme. Day one was a field trip to Marley Head Wind Turbine, Marley Thatch Solar Farm and Totnes Weir Hydro. On day two (which we ran three times as there were so many children), we ran three workshops: in electronics, where children experimented with lemon batteries, mini solar panels, LEDs and multi-meters; in wind, where the children built vertical axis wind turbines out of recycled cardboard; and hydro, where children were asked to make a prototype for an Archimedes screw the way Archimedes intended – to move water uphill. They were given the materials and left to get on with it. Amazingly, several of the groups were able to complete the task with no help. Not sure how many adults would have been able to do this! The school were delighted with the project. Class teacher Miss Pearce commented that the project was amazing as all the children were totally engaged, and class teacher Mr Goud, thought the field trip really enhanced the learning experience.
The programme was enabled by a grant from the Chacegrove Family Foundation and delivered to the school for free. TRESOC is very grateful to them for their support and belief in the project.
Lemon battery success!
Testing a solar circuit
Making Archimedes screws at the Grove
TRESOC is also thankful to all the individuals and companies that collaborated on the project, including: South Brent Community Energy Society, Dart Renewables Ltd, Fisktek, RES, Quintas, Octopus Energy and TRESOC Volunteer Max Faircloth. TRESOC is incredibly lucky that so many local companies see the importance of educating the next generation about decentralised renewable energy and are happy to give up their time to make this happen.
We are hosting three FREE family-friendly moth events in August, in conjunction with Art & Energy Collective’s Moths To A Flame project. The project invites people to think about their relationship with energy, ahead of COP26 in Glasgow later this year, and to record their message of hope to the delegates.
10th August – The Moth’s Whisper Book Reading by Miranda Barlow 2pm @ St John’s Church, Bridgetown, Totnes
There will be a free moth activity pack for every child who attends
Come and join KEVICC alumni writer and illustrator Miranda Barlow at St John’s Church in Bridgetown for a reading of her book The Moth’s Whisper*, followed by an augmented reality moth-making session with a moth colouring sheet. Your drawings will be brought to life using the QuiverVision App and you can record a selfie with your own whisper of hope for the future, then share it online using #MothsToAFlame.
The Moth’s Whisper was specially commissioned for Moths to a Flame. It follows the journey of Marny, a newly emerged Yellow Underwing moth as she emerges from her pupa and discovers the world of humans as she journeys in search of the moon.
*The collective noun for moths is a whisper.
12th August – Family Moth-Making Event for a magnificent Climate Emergency mass-participation art installation for COP26, Glasgow
10am, 11am, 12 noon, 2pm, 3pm @ Totnes Civic Hall
Moth Making
Record a message for COP26
17th August – Moth Watching 8.30am @ Totnes Weir Hydro
Talk from a local moth expert
Tour of the Hydro Plant
Record a message for #COP26
Make observational drawings of moths using handmade oak gall ink
TRESOC was delighted to be back in schools at the end of May, running its free renewable energy education programme for primary schools. The Renewable Energy Experiential Learning (REEL) programme ran with Year 6 at St Christopher’s Prep School in Staverton over two days.
On the field trip day, the children visited the Marley Head wind turbine (grateful thanks to South Brent Community Energy Society), Totnes weir hydro (with thanks to Dart Renewables Ltd), and the Dartington solar farm and woodfuel boiler (thanks to Dartington Hall Trust). TRESOC is extremely grateful to its sponsors for their ongoing support and access to their installations. As our Operations Director Sally Murrall-Smith said, “I’m aware of how lucky we are in Totnes, to have so many innovative organisations and embedded renewable technologies on our doorstep – organisations that are very happy to engage with the programme and enrich it. As a result, the children learn about renewable energy and wider energy issues. My hope is that the REEL programme empowers children by presenting positive ways to address climate change and busting some of the myths about renewable energy technologies.”
During the workshop day, the children took part in three workshops looking specifically at solar, wind and hydro technologies. For the solar workshop, the children carried out chemistry and physics experiments using electronics equipment. They also learned how important battery technologies are for renewables; without the them the energy is only available at the time it is being generated.
Alexandra Cottell, Head Mistress of the school thinks that ‘The REEL programme is a fantastic STEM project, that brings together physics, chemistry, maths and engineering into one place. It has been an enriching experience for all the children. It is the fourth time that the school have taken part is in the programme and we hope to continue to do so into the future.”
Children testing the moisture content of the wood chips for the Dartington biomass boiler, which heats the buildings in the medieval courtyard on the estate. The drier the better; a high moisture content creates more smoke and harmful particles of air pollution.
Busting the myth that you can get electrocuted by simply touching a PV panel. The children understood that the panels do get hot on a sunny day.
The children were surprised how quiet the turbine was compared to the traffic on A38, despite being stood 100m away when it was operating at full power. South Brent Community Energy Society said they have carried out a study on bird strikes and found no evidence of it happening.
The students were impressed to see the two turbine at Totnes Weir Hydro working flat out, providing enough power for a 3rd of all homes in Totnes.
The first experiment was to create a battery from a piece of fruit and explored voltage and current using multi-meters.
They then used their batteries to examine the effects of location (sun direction and intensity) and direction on the voltage and current produced by a mini-solar panel.
The children made their own Savonious wind turbine cut out of cardboard. This involved producing a technical drawing of the panels and using geometry to work out required angles.
Wind turbines assembled.
In the hydro workshop, the children made an Archimedes screw out of plastic tubes and elastic bands, to move water up hills, the way Archimedes originally intended!
The children were also lucky enough to take part in a craft workshop to make renewable energy artwork that works using the energy from the sun. The Cyanotype session was run by Chloe Uden and Naomi Wright from Art and Energy Collective. They are the inspiration and driving force behind the Moths to a Flame movement that is turning calls for urgent action on the Climate Emergency into a magnificent mass-participation art installation at COP26 in Glasgow this year, using the moth as a metaphor for our relationship with energy. They are inviting everyone to help make 20,000 moths and record messages for COP26 delegates, which will be exhibited at the Glasgow Botanical Garden during the COP26 and then in Plymouth. TRESOC will be running community moth making events in the summer.
Cyanotype prints use a mixture of iron compounds exposed to UV light. Washed in water, the iron oxidises to create beautiful Prussian Blue images.
TRESOC is proud to have supported CISTAfrica’s Clean Cooking Kenya project by loaning them our MD Ian Bright. The project is turning an invasive plant – water hyacinth – from something choking its waterways into clean fuel; bioethanol. This reduces the use of wood and charcoal for cooking, which improves air quality and biodiversity and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Even the byproducts are beneficial – check out the video to find out more.
Ian spent the first couple of months of 2021 in Kenya consulting with the project organisers on how to make the fuel at scale. This film is one of the outcomes.
Sally was interviewed on the Full Totnes Breakfast Radio Show on Soundart Radio on Friday September 18th: you can listen to it here. Sally talks about existing projects as well as those in development: the proposed solar PV installation at Transition Homes’ eco-social housing development at Clay Park in Dartington, and the possibility of creating an Energy Local Club. The interview starts 12 mins 40secs in if you don’t want to listen to the whole show.
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