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Watt’s Up?! Solar Panel Activity. Goal: Have students calculate the percentage of energy provided by the solar panels to the school Part I: Collect energy usage data in the school with a Watt’s Up meter Part II: Compare estimated energy usage with actual usage from an Excel energy bill
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Watt’s Up?! Solar Panel Activity • Goal: Have students calculate the percentage of energy provided by the solar panels to the school • Part I: Collect energy usage data in the school with a Watt’s Up meter • Part II: Compare estimated energy usage with actual usage from an Excel energy bill • Part III: Calculate the energy production of solar panels and compare this to energy consumption of the school
Watt’s Up?... Results • Students collected data and reported a total of 242,447 kWhr of energy consumed in the month of April • Excel energy bill stated 167,038 kWhr of energy used • We WAY overestimated our energy use – after discussion we decided it was an error in how we estimated power rating for light bulbs.
Watt’s Up?... Results • Using Deck Monitor website, students were able to calculate the energy produced by solar panels in a typical day. • 1566.7 kWhr for a typical day in April • This is only 7% of our school’s energy needs!! • On a sunny day – we would be able to produce more like 10% of our energy needs.
Helpful Hints for Teachers… • Make sure to give teachers a heads up that you are coming! • Make sure to build in time during the class period to share data and do calculations – this will save you time in the long run. Use Google Docs! • Reserve a computer lab for the day you calculate energy produced from solar panels using Deck Monitoring program