From Wind to Watts: Investigating Energy Storage and System Efficiency is a hands-on webinar with presenter Tom Buchanan that immerses students in one of the most critical challenges of modern energy systems: how to store energy when the wind isn’t blowing. Using KidWind turbines as the primary energy source, participants investigate and compare three real-world energy storage strategies—pumped hydro, rechargeable batteries, and gravity-based storage—through guided laboratory experiments.
During the session, students collect and analyze real data to calculate energy transfer and round-trip efficiencies. They measure electrical input, mechanical output, and gravitational potential energy while pumping water, charging and discharging batteries, and lifting and lowering weights. These activities mirror the same efficiency metrics and trade-off analyses used by engineers when designing large-scale energy systems.
Designed for high school and introductory college STEM courses, this webinar connects physics, engineering, and sustainability concepts in a tangible way. Participants leave with classroom-ready strategies for teaching energy storage, a deeper understanding of intermittency in renewables, and a clear framework for helping students link theoretical energy concepts to practical, measurable outcomes.
This is part of the CREATE Innovation series and runs approximately 30 minutes.
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