Imagine! You’ve just woken up in the morning to pre-programmed nature sounds and look out into the vast mountainous view on your surround screen walls. Before pulling on your underwear, you unplug your micro communications device from your waistband, and check on the electric goo levels of your in-home power storage system.
Before settling in for breakfast, you take Fido for a quick jog around the neighbourhood to power up his wearable charging station — just long enough to power your coffeemaker.
Ahh, such is life in 2050, powered by the dreams and imagination of Kootenay kids.
Could such a future be awaiting us?
If the Kootenay Contraption Contest is any indication, the contest winners and tomorrow’s innovation leaders will have lots of creative ideas to draw on to power a bright future.
KAST-GLOWS (Growing, Learning Opportunities with Science) recently wrapped up the Kootenay Contraption Contest which posed the following challenge to Kootenay Boundary students.
“Imagine the year is 2050. Wind and solar energy are plentiful, but how will we store that energy to make it more useful?”
Kids aged six to 13 in Grades 1 to 8 submitted descriptive illustrations with their solutions.
Last month, judges from School District 20, FortisBC and KAST reviewed the creative submissions, and chose winners.
Quinlan, a Grade 3 student from Kinnaird Elementary in Castlegar, was the grand prize winner of a brand new iPad Air for his innovation. Quinlan’s solution captures the suns energy through solar panels and transfers it in a special bioluminescent jelly. That jelly runs through a specially designed strainer which extracts the energy from the jelly. That energy is then fed through a pipe to dispense it as needed.
Winners at each grade level were also selected and won a pizza party for their whole class:
Grade 1/2: Keshet of W.E. Graham Community School in Slocan forenergized clothes;
Grade 3: Alexandra from Twin Rivers Elementary in Castlegar for thermal water conveyor;
Grade 4: Everett from Twin Rivers Elementary in Castlegar for retro milk truck battery charging and delivery system;
Grade 5: Ciaran from Kinnaird Elementary in Castlegar for magnetic rock solar cart;
Grade 8: Tie between Indica and Logan of Nakusp Secondary School for the ideas of an outlet bracelet and pet mat battery pack.