Sustainability and the Environment: "Angela's Internship Report"

Shining the Light on Solar Energy
By Angela DeLuca

In the past four weeks I have been working with the Santa Elena Public Library to inform the residents of Santa Elena of the societal, economic, and environmental benefits of renewable energy, specifically solar power. The library fosters all if its electricity through a single solar panel but there is a limited amount of people in the community that use this energy, making it an ideal establishment to perform a solar energy outreach project for. Via model building, bilingual workshops, and informative displays I have increased solar power resources available to the local community. The library is the only Spanish library in Santa Elena so creating an interactive display in Spanish serves as a major supply of knowledge and will encourage residents to harness this energy.

In my academic studies I have found my passion in sustainable development and economics, but recently started working towards a certificate in renewable and sustainable energy. This internship emerged as a perfect opportunity to combine my interests to analyze solar energy within Monteverde and perform outreach to increase its implementation. I aspire to attend graduate school to study energy economics and hope to acquire a career as a natural resource economist. Throughout my college education I have realized that increasing the use of solar energy not only creates new job markets, but also has the potential to greatly lessen the amount of greenhouse gas pollution and provide a gateway to a more sustainable way of life.

Over this time period I have vastly furthered my skills in different areas. I developed analytical skills through completion of cost analyses for the library’s photovoltaic panel and also for businesses within the area if they were to install photovoltaic panels as well. The results were astounding- they could be saving thousands of dollars if they used solar energy. By constructing models of solar energy techniques I increased my graphic design and hand-building skills; I built a solar dehydrator out of recycled materials and designed three graphic displays. Through the completion of bilingual workshops, I have strengthened my Spanish skills, both orally and literally. I now have the confidence to approach foreign language speakers to encourage them to broaden their understanding of electricity and their options of attaining it. Finally, I have improved my investigative skills through conducting interviews of sustainable businesses.

My greatest contributions throughout this internship has been the addition of informative displays in the library. There are three distinct pieces and each explains a different aspect of solar energy. First, I created a poster and labeling system to visually explain how the photovoltaic cell creates electricity that can be used. I also produced a display to demonstrate the weight of carbon dioxide that the library prevents from being emitted by use of the solar panel instead of relying on fossil fuels, so children can actually feel the impact solar energy has. A third poster exhibits the health benefits of this alternative energy, and to complete the exhibition I formulated graphs highlighting the money saved over time by use of solar energy. In all, I created a system that allows library visitors to visualize and fully understand the workings and importance of solar energy. By furthering the community’s knowledge and my own of this sustainable resource I have made a meaningful impact on the local community.

Some of the finished products!