One of the many fascinating exhibits the 12,000 guests of Energy Day enjoyed this past weekend was the winning plan – designed by four middle school girls – in the Energy City of the Future competition. The plan, previewed here by CEA’s David Holt, presents a city that makes the most of all of our natural resources, including geothermal power from the ground and solar power from the sun to heat homes and large office buildings.
We’re happy to say Energy Day was a success. Students, teachers, local officials and families saw more than 60 interactive exhibits, many of them illustrating how advances in technology have led to new sources of renewable energy and user-friendly ways to conserve energy, and generally thinking outside of the box when developing ways to power our lives.
Those who took part in the Energy City of the Future competition created a scale model of Houston for the year 2050 that demonstrated how different sources of energy would be developed, used and transported. They also put together supporting marketing campaigns and public service announcements. It was a lot of work and produced some plans that were solidly conceived, both creative and scientific.
We are inspired by the ability of our youth to imagine a brighter future and we are working to help channel their talent to help solve some of the country’s greatest challenges. Over the past year, CEA has partnered with a number of Houston-area educational institutions to encourage broad participation in ongoing science and energy academic competitions. At Energy Day this past Saturday we awarded more than $20,000 in scholarships to students who have shown an interest in energy through their participation in the Energy Capital Academic Program (ECAP).
For more information on the ECAP program, along with photos from Energy Day, visit energyday2011.org. We hope to see you and your families at Energy Day 2012.
