Our planet is getting hotter. Glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising, and warmer weather is brewing up catastrophic storms. How can we reduce global warming and save our planet? Through renewable technology, of course! There’s just one problem: we need more renewable engineers.

Throwing Solar Shade, a contest founded by solar power manufacturer Secure Futures in partnership with the Science Museum of Virginia, is encouraging young students to become solar technologists. This year, three high schools from the U.S. state of Virginia participated in the contest. According to The Chesapeake Bay Journal, the contest tasked participating students with solving heat-related issues in their own communities. The winners include:

Caroline Miller, senior at Fort Defiance High School and Shenandoah Valley Governor’s School Miller experimented with octagonal, pyramidal, semicircular, and flat surfaces to prove that “textured” surfaces can make solar panels more efficient and produce more heat. 

Sherylynne Crookshanks, junior at Fort Defiance High School

Through her research, Crookshanks realized her high school was a “heat island,” an area that is hotter than everything around it. She discovered that the school’s large, black parking lot was the main culprit, since black absorbs heat, and that the parking lot would absorb a lot less heat if the school painted it a lighter color.

Jack Salgado, senior at Open High School

The high cost of silicon remains a major obstacle for the marketability of solar panels. After investigating the physics of solar panels, Salgado showed how photovoltaic materials could be an energy efficient and affordable alternative to silicon.

Lauren Rhodes, senior at Fort Defiance High School 

Rhodes, whose family is in the poultry farm business, examined the potential benefits of putting solar panels on the roofs of turkey houses. Her research revealed these solar panels can make up for their high cost over time, but that farmers need grants, loans, and tax incentives to get started. 

The Throwing Solar Shade winners were all rewarded internships with Secure Futures.

Explore Solar Power with IEEE TryEngineering

Help students gain a useful understanding of a relatively new energy technology, which over their lifetimes, will become more prevalent and common. Download the lesson plan Solar Power on IEEE TryEngineering today.