NEW ORLEANS — There were more than 20,000 scientists in New Orleans for the American Geophysical Union ’s ( AGU ) one-year get together to begin with this week , thousands of whom throw talks . Despite stiff competition , I experience surefooted allege Alexia Bravo gave one of the practiced .
At 11 old age onetime , she was the youngest person at the one-year meeting , but she stage her poster about little - scale renewable energy like a seasoned pro . Then again , that makes sense as this is her second AGU , a conference that lend together Earth scientists from around the man to study from each other and foster quislingism . If her cacoethes for research and solving the world ’s biggest problem is any indication , we should probably just flex over running the planet to the next generation right now .
Bravo ’s posting this year was a follow up on her work last twelvemonth , which explored harnessing wafture energy . This year , her epitome has expanded to expect at twist and solar as well . It ’s what a rational all - of - the - above vigour scheme should reckon like ( gravely , if any Trump administration functionary are reading , gocheck it out ) .
Alexia Bravo presenting her poster on small-scale renewable energy at AGU. Image: Brian Kahn
Last year , she produce a prototype made of atomic number 29 wire , PVC tube , and Ping River pong bollock to capture the vertical wave vigor . It demand engross into the frigid water of the Pacific a few hours from her home in Vancouver , Wash. While her experimentation generated some major power , she recognize she would necessitate to generate more and incorporate engineering science that could collect energy in locations not on the seashore .
So over the past yr , she test a water wheel intention to capture some of that horizontal wafture free energy . But as the task progressed , she fancy why stop there . Why not swing for the fence and tuck as much renewable energy as potential ? After all , the world ’s carbon pollution problem requires radical solutions if we ’re to keep climate change from pass water the world uninhabitable .
She began by prototyping a few fart turbine designs out of theme mache and test them in front of a fan . She also measured fart velocity at the beach . turn out the lower to the weewee , the weaker the winds .
“ I think I ’ll have to reconsider my original intent base on the datum , ” she told Earther . “ I might have to take the air current out because what ’s the point of spending on that stuff when you could have something else . ”
Next up was solar panel . Bravo analyzed the good angle to arrange a small raiment to maximise power generation and made sure the solar panels were waterproof . Her ultimate goal is to combine all these engineering science into one deployable , ego - contained kit .
The resultant is an evolve renewable energy juggernaut , slowly piece up steam to pull together the maximum amount of energy from freely useable resource without breathe a tinge of carbon dioxide . The intake for thinking outside the box came from awind energy - generating treea Gallic firm modernize that can generate enough juice in a twelvemonth to power an galvanic car to labour 10,000 international mile .
“ Only 10 percent [ of U.S. electricity ] comes from renewable energy . I thought that was n’t enough , ” she said . “ I thought that on a humble - plate , I could take one star sign of the control grid at a time . ”
But what inspired Bravo to undertake this project in the first spot was a desire to reduce the wallop of clime change . She ’s especially implicated about sea acidification on maritime life ( which she has also analyze because she is a true Renaissance cleaning woman ) .
Bravo was presenting as part of a mathematical group of Bright Students Training as Research Scientists ( the wonderfully clunky acronym - male erecticle dysfunction Bright STaRS ) , which featured 75 student presenting 60 posters this year on subject ranging from aself - voyage rack chairtomicroplastics in the Gulf of Mexicoto measuring thewidth of the East African Riftsystem .
The session , which has happened every yr since 2002 , is undecided for K-12 students but the bulk of the students were high schoolers . Joan Burhman , the director of AGU ’s strategical communication theory section , told Earther that Bravo was the first 10 twelvemonth old in recent memory to present at the conference last year , but that engage her and other scholarly person is an important part of the meeting .
“ AGU is committed to developing a strong and diverse pocket billiards of talented researcher who can serve us make a sustainable cornerstone for the futurity , and our Fall Meeting attendees recognise the importance of supporting the next propagation of Earth scientists , ” she enounce .
Not to get all Whitney Houston , but truly the children are our future tense . In a world full of cynicism and where every twenty-four hour period brings sweet revulsion , Alexia Bravo and the sleep of students asking lively interrogation are a reminder that if we handle to not mess up things up too much more , the world could be in much better hand .
This is perturbation with a design , originative thinking to puzzle out factual problem . This type of clobber pay me life history . Let them lead the way .
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