[Mb-hair] The spirit of Hair lives on

[Barbara Siomos]

Nina....

This is so sweet and gives me hope as well... thank you for sending it.

peace,
barbara
>From: "Little Birdie" <lbirdie at hotmail.com> 
>To: mb-hair at islandlists.com 
>Date: Thu, Dec 16, 2004, 4:14pm (EST+5) >Subject: [Mb-hair] The spirit
of Hair lives on

Here's an interesting newspaper article about a project my daughter's
class is doing on solar energy. They are building soar panels to donate
to the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. It makes my heart glad to see
these values taught to kids in school. I was lucky enough to assist them
with this project, and as I looked around the classroom, watching the
intensity of their commitment - both to renewable energy sources and to
the feeding of the hungry - I was moved to see that the spirit of Hair
lives on in our children. 
Love,
Nina 
The Hair Archives 
http://www.michaelbutler.com/hair/holding/Hair.html 
Greenfield MA Recorder
Thursday, December 16, 2004 
Charged up over school's solar panel project By ADAM ORTH 
Recorder Staff 
GREENFIELD - Grasping a soldering iron, 12-year-old Ivy Santos of
Warwick bent over the small photovoltaic cells she was connecting
together. "You're supposed to spread it like peanut butter," she said,
while doing exactly that to a small pool of molten solder. Around her,
the chatter of children and adults filled the air. So did the acid
smells of melting plastic and hot metal. The seventh- and eighth-graders
at Greenfield Center School had transformed their classroom into a
workshop. 
"Just get under, come on," muttered 13-year-old Lydia Kinney of
Greenfield. She was trying to secure an uncooperative ribbon of metal
under a screw. Picking at a roll of masking tape, Zoe Elkin, 12, of
Amherst wrinkled her nose in distaste. "This is the hardest tape," she
complained, while pulling off yet another jagged-edged strip. 
Gathered around two large, wooden tables, the children were either
working on individual solar-powered battery chargers or helping to
assemble parts for three large solar panels. 
The main ingredients for both projects were small photovoltaic cells
that generate electricity when exposed to the sun. The simplest of these
power watches or calculators. 
Occasionally, students went outside into the sun to test their
creations. As Santos watched, Terra Hondrogen, 13, of Pelham hooked up a
meter to a nearly finished solar battery charger. 
"Whoa," said Santos, as the meter's needle jumped into life. "It works,"
announced Hondrogen. 
After expressing disappointment that her soldering wasn't more
attractive, Santos explained that the dark blue cells are covered in a
coating that absorbs most visible light. 
"Blue, like, is the only light where the wavelength is short enough to
reflect off of it," she said, holding the battery charger and pointing
at the surface of the cells. "I think it's actually silver. It's
aluminum." Inside, teachers Dinah Mack and Andy Hauty moved about the
room, answering a steady stream of questions and lending a hand when
needed. It was Mack, for example, who helped Kinney secure that metal
ribbon. However, the conductor who consistently snatched steady progress
from the jaws of chaos was white-haired Richard Komp. When Hauty started
looking for someone to help his students make solar panels, he turned to
Komp, who is president of the Maine Solar Energy Association and author
of a textbook titled "Practical Photovoltaics." Komp worked his way
around the room, directing students and teachers alike before moving on
to the next project. 
"I have to show you this," he told Hauty, urging the teacher over to the
glass plate that Elkin had bordered with upright strips of tape. Hauty
in turn called over to 12-year-old Annie Dayton of Hatfield. "Can you
watch him?" he asked her. "You'll do the next one." Komp then
demonstrated how to mix the liquid latex that would coat the glass
plate. Later, the photovoltaic cells would be pressed into it to make
one of the three panels, each one containing 36 cells. "You use as
little as possible, it's $250 a gallon," said Komp. In passing, he
mentioned that the liquid silicone was originally developed for the U.S.
space program in the late 1950s and, later, it would be used for breast
implants. 
This last bit of news created predictable tittering throughout the room.
Two of the larger solar panels will be donated to light up the barn at
the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, which combats area hunger by
collecting and distributing food. The third will stay at the school,
where it will continue to teach about solar energy. 
Funding the school's renewable energy project is a $2,500 grant from the
Toshiba Foundation, secured by Hauty. After finishing the panels,
students will continue to explore the subject through a variety of
self-chosen projects. 
Some will help install the panels at the Food Bank in March. Others
might help build a greenhouse for winter vegetables, or construct solar
cars or solar ovens. 
"A solar Lego village might happen," Mack said. Students can also choose
a hydroelectric or wind-power project. Traditional sources of power,
which rely on non-renewable sources, like oil and coal, won't last
forever, Hauty points out. 
"To get them to think about alternative energy sources, that's kind of
the point of the whole thing," he said. 
Komp was now calling for quiet, which he got as the room stilled. He was
ready to push the cells into the liquid silicone and needed to listen
carefully for the telltale snap of any of them breaking. In the quiet,
Dayton's soft voice could be heard clearly. "Don't you want it the other
way?" she asked. 
Komp snatched the cells in his hand away from the sticky silicone.
"Thank you, Annie, for catching that," he said. 
Soon it would be lunchtime. The children started cleaning up -
unplugging soldering irons, gathering up materials and battery chargers.
Meanwhile, Komp had encountered a problem. It turns out someone had
soldered a string of cells together backward. He and Dayton retreated to
a table for some repair work. 
"This one like this, this one like this," said Komp, arranging the
cells. "Now you're set, you can finish it." 
Dutifully, while other students went to lunch, Dayton bent over the
cells and started to neatly solder them together. 
"It's just fun to get energy from other places, to just use the
resources that are natural," she said. 
Then, getting up, she carried the assembled cells outside. Behind her
came Komp. 
"I think it works," she said, after putting the cells into the sun and
squatting to attach a meter. "Yes, yes, 3.34." "Good," said Komp. 
"It really works," said Dayton, still looking at the meter. "Excellent."
"Oh good," said Komp. "We can glue it in." 
"Finally," said Dayton, as she stood up. "After four tries," Komp
agreed. 
Then, together, they went back inside to finish that panel. 
Greenfield Center School is an independent day school for kindergarten
through middle school students at 71 Montague City Road in Greenfield.
Its Web site is: www.centerschool.net. 
Copyright The Greenfield Recorder 2004