SCHOOLS and EDUCATIONAL

We do quite a lot of educational projects now, but one of the problems with trying to promote that side of the activity is that taking photos is not allowed in most schools.
The most important aspect of our school projects is participation - making sure that all the children actually experience generating their own electricity so that they can get a practical understanding of electrical units and the scale of power.
The amount of energy needed to power filament type and low energy fluorescent or LED lights, charge a phone or run a stereo can be directly felt.
As we can only provide four or five pedal units plus some handcrank devices, we often work with half a class, combining with a Council energy or recycling presentation who take the other half for a 20 minute or half hour session. Several classes can have a session in a day.
Apart from the pedal generators, we can provide demonstrations of other small scale energy generators such as wind and solar power, and the 'Watt Box' which shows the effect of a Watt of power when expressed as heat, light, mechanical power or sound.
For smaller groups we can facilitate practical workshops - these LED windmills were made by a school 'eco-club', and this 8 metre tall plastic drainpipe tower was built in an activity day at a local school.
It's difficult to get our regular volunteers on weekdays, especially outside our local area; three or four people are needed for basic safety supervision of pedal generators. Most schools have provided their own local volunteers, often interested parents or governors.

It's also worth mentioning that several pedal generators and LED discs and windmills have been built in places as far away as Australia and America by children and teachers using designs from our DIY pages (and that's just the ones we know about as they emailed to ask for help).