Reviewing for Exams

With all that goes in biodiesel, it is often easy to forget that it is still, in fact, a class in high school. Today, projects were put on hold in order to review for our exam, which will cover physics as well as energy related topics such as petroleum and chemistry. The exam is scheduled on the friday of next week meaning we will be reviewing until that date. Projects will resume after the holiday break.

Reusing Old Parts

In the spirit of recycling, the Alternative Energy Center is taking apart an old, broken down cherrypicker in order to use its parts. Today, students Carson Neymoss, Mike Labounty and Ryu Wada finished removing a solar panel and control panel from the broken-down machine. The parts are being retooled and will soon be used for education.

Major donation made to Biodiesel

Enclosed in this card were two checks totaling $1100 from Michael McCloud, a local singer/songwriter, Rose Jones, his wife and Mr.McCloud parents. The Key West Highschool Alternative Energy Center thanks Mr.McCloud, his parents and Mrs.Jones for their generous donations; the money will be extremely helpful in supporting the Center's current projects.
The Key West Alternative Energy Center would also like to take this opportunity to thank Anchor towing and Scott Feicht. The towing company agreed to move the Center's mercedes 25 miles up the Keys for only a small sum of money. There it was worked on by Mr.Feicht, who completely repaired the vehicle for free.

Automotive Team Gets Truck Running, Biodiesel Cabinet Finished

After weeks of hard work, the biodiesel automotive team finally found the missing piece of the puzzle to get the truck running. After replacing the fuel pump, the truck began to run properly for the first time in years.

Also today, Sandito Santiago and John Benavides put the finishing touches on their grease storage cabinet, making it ready for donations.

Building Beautification Project

Due to the current state of the building the class is using, students are working hard to make its appearance more appealing. The students hope to complete the project by the end of the year.



This is the front side of the biodiesel building. The students are building large planter boxes to place here so they can plant silver buttonwood trees that will block direct sunlight and reduce the cooling costs of the room.



Here is one of the planter boxes that will go in the front of the building. The students on the planter box teams are Colleen Cushing, Emily Price and Peyton White for 4th and 5th period and Shane Chavez, Nick Scammacca, Joseph Bright and Ryan Covington for 6th and 7th period.



This the side of the Biodiesel class. Here students plan on a general cleaning and have already begun painting the garage doors.



Class members Sandito Santiago and John Benavides are finishing up the construction of a cabinet that is located in the grease drop off area. This provides a place for local restaurants to drop off thier excess grease in a more organized manner, reducing the amount of trash around the building.



Student Katey Divoll is making her contribution to the project by painting the rooms front door.

The Energy Center hits Home Depot

Today the entire team took a trip to the local Home Depot to ppick up some much needed supplies for thier projects. All purchases were charged to the Energy Center's budget, which is managed by Amanda Lopez and Julie Holroyd.

Students make progress with biodiesel car

Alex Cariega and others made headway with the two vehicles donated to the AEC. So far the group has concentrated on the batteries and starters of the cars, in order to ge them running again. With this progress, the vehicles are that much closer to operating fully on biodiesel fuel.

Turbine Installation Marks New Goal for Biodiesel Team

The Key West Alternative Energy Center saw the construction of its first wind turbine November 12th. The team plans to have it running and supplying power by January.



In order to get the wind turbine running, Michael Labounty, Spenser Budde and Zach Gonzalez are charged with digging a trench for the turbine's power supply cable. Using pickaxes and shovels, the three are digging a trench that will stretch from the turbine's current location all the way to the Energy Center.

Students Begin To Create Biodiesel

Today, the students began the lengthy process of turning the donated cooking oil into biodiesel fuel. The first step is to filter out any solid objects from the oil. Using a homeade filtering system, a team of students consisitng of Carson Neymoss, Ryu Wada, and Michael Commander began processing the cooking oil in order to make it useable.

Alternative Energy Center sets goal for March

The Key West Alternative Energy Center is a group of high school students dedicated to researching and implementing various methods of leading a more eco-friendly lifestyle.

Led by physics teachers Josh Clearman and Scott Douthit, the Alternative Energy Center has played a large role in the community by working to make the high school more energy efficient and has pioneered the use of biodiesel, setting a goal for themselves to have at least one car running efficiently on the fuel by March 1st.

Through community outreach the students receive donations of grease from local restaurants and businesses and convert it into biodiesel with a student-designed biodiesel plant.