EnergyWhiz 2022 Returns to FSEC ERC with New Events, Same Competitive Spirits

Stephanie Salmon Awards, Continuing Education, Energy News, Feature Story, K-12 Education, Press Release, Uncategorized 0 Comment

Neither the cloudy forecast nor pandemic concerns were enough to discourage the teams that came together on Saturday, April 30th for the 2022 EnergyWhiz event!

EnergyWhiz is a daylong celebration of sustainable solutions, creativity and engineering skills, where students from throughout Florida came together to showcase their renewable energy projects. This year, elementary, middle, and high school teams designed and built everything from solar-powered electric vehicles to sun-powered cookers and “green” homes for pets and other critters to showcase and share at EnergyWhiz.

The event, presented this year by sponsor Florida Power and Light Company, is hosted each year at the FSEC Energy Research Center, a research institute at the University of Central Florida, located at the Cocoa Campus of the UCF and Eastern Florida State College.

This year’s EnergyWhiz competitors participated in one of six categories: Junior Solar Sprint, Critter Comfort Cottage, Energy Inspired Art, Energy Innovations, Energy Transfer Machine and the Solar Energy Cook-off. Each competition category incorporates some type of energy efficiency measure or renewable energy technology. 

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U.S. Department of Energy Awards FSEC $1M Contract for Continued Efforts in EnergyPlus

Stephanie Salmon Awards, Buildings Research, Energy News, Feature Story, Press Release, Publications 0 Comment

Did you know that buildings account for more than 40% of U.S. total energy use and 70% of the country’s electricity use? Reducing that consumption to match renewable generation is one of the key challenges of our clean energy future, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The need to design and operate buildings to be more efficient, flexible, and responsive is essential to help meet that challenge. This is a primary focus at the FSEC Energy Research Center, which has been awarded a $1,000,000 contract for continued efforts in the Department of Energy’s flagship whole-building energy simulation software engine, EnergyPlus.

EnergyPlus is an open-source, whole-building energy simulation software that engineers, architects, and researchers use to model both energy consumption—for heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting and plug and process loads—and water use in buildings.

FSEC ERC has decades of whole-building energy simulation program development experience and has been part of the Department of Energy’s EnergyPlus core development team since 2001, when the Department of Energy changed from the DOE2.1 simulation program to EnergyPlus. Since then, FSEC ERC has been one of many central teams working with DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, to maintain, research, and develop the simulation program.

FSEC ERC is an essential part of the bi-annual updates for the program every year, not only providing software updates and fixing glitches, but also writing and creating new software within the program.

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2022 EnergyWhiz Winners

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Junior Solar Sprint

Green Division (Grades 3 – 5)EnergyWhiz sun logo holding Earth in it's hands.
Best Design
1st Place – The Limo – Pine Crest School (Ft. Lauderdale)
Teacher – Kris Swanson
2nd Place – The PC Mobile – Pine Crest School (Ft. Lauderdale)
Teacher – Kris Swanson
3rd Place – HELIOS – The Bonds – NSU University School (Ft. Lauderdale)
Teacher – Michele Murray-Garren
Most Innovative
1st Place – The Limo – Pine Crest School (Ft. Lauderdale)
Teacher – Kris Swanson
2nd Place – Ocean Odyssey – Buck Lake Elementary (Tallahassee)
Teacher – Kim Perez
3rd Place – Mordor – Buck Lake Elementary (Tallahassee)
Teacher – Kim Perez
Race
1st Place – Sun Runners – Orlando Science (Orlando)
Teacher – Amy Trujillo
2nd Place – The Bonds – NSU University School (Ft. Lauderdale)
Teacher – Michele Murray-Garren
3rd Place – The Lightning Sharks – NSU University School (Ft. Lauderdale)
Teacher – Michele Murray-Garren

Blue Division (Grades 6 – 8)
Best Design
1st Place – The Rovers – Parkland STEM Club (Plantation)
Teacher – John Garren
2nd Place – The Milwee Falcons – Milwee Middle (Longwood)
Teacher – Carol Unterreiner
3rd Place – Meowzster – Cornerstone Learning Community (Tallahassee)
Teacher – Karen Metcalf
Most Innovative
1st Place – Panther Engineering G8 – Pine Crest School (Ft. Lauderdale)
Teacher – Kris Swanson
2nd Place – The Rovers – Parkland STEM Club (Plantation)
Teacher – John Garren
3rd Place – Meowzster – Cornerstone Learning Community (Tallahassee)
Teacher – Karen Metcalf
Race
1st Place – The Rovers – Parkland STEM Club (Plantation)
Teacher – John Garren
2nd Place – Meowzster – Cornerstone Learning Community (Tallahassee)
Teacher – Karen Metcalf
3rd Place – The Milwee Falcons – Milwee Middle (Longwood)
Teacher – Carol Unterreiner

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