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Two Ugandan schools — Kalengeija and Busingiro Primary
Schools — in collaboration with Link Community Development
in Masindi, Uganda, tried out the four renewable energy activities.
Here's what they found.
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| The children from Basingiro building their waterwheel |
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| Pupils at Kalengeija making their waterwheel work |
Children from both schools found that water had the capacity
to lift different weights, but that to be most efficient,
the waterwheel needed constant flowing water. Both schools
were able to construct the waterwheel using locally acquired
materials. |
Both schools were able to build their wind turbines from materials
found locally and use them to harness the wind to generate energy
and lift weights. They noted that the stronger the wind, and the
stronger the propeller, the greater the weight that could be lifted.
The children from Basingiro found the wind turbine to be more
efficient than the waterwheel. Kalengeija children suggested that
in Uganda the wind turbine would work best in their windy season
of December and January.
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| The Kalengeija children checking temperatures |
The strong Ugandan sunshine enabled the children to cook
rice and bread in their solar ovens. However, both schools
discovered that clay pots were not the best thing to use
as they absorbed lots of solar energy, and, instead, pans
painted black were more efficient.
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| This graph shows the temperature that
the solar oven made by the Kalengeija reached at different
times during the day (4 March 2005) |
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Although the ovens were easy to make, the Ugandan schools didn't
have access to aluminium foil, so this had to be brought from
outside.
| The Ugandan children found the
solar panels easy to construct using local material, and they
used them to heat water. The highest water temperature measured
by the Kalengeija children was 71°C, while the Busingiro
solar panel only heated water to a maximum of 58°C. Both
schools noted that the temperature changed during the day,
reaching a peak between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. before declining.
The children at Busingiro also noted that cloud cover had
a big effect on results. |
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| Busingiro pupils building their solar panel |
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| Their results |
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