Jim White talks to Wenatchee fourth-graders about how energy from the sun can power cars and more.

Chelan PUD’s Jim White earns statewide award

Around the office, we think of engineer Jim White as something of a wizard. Now the state has recognized him as a science champion.

White, an indefatigable advocate for solar power and renewable energy,  received the  Science Education Advocate Award from the state LASER program — Leadership and Assistance for Science Education Reform. The award recognizes outstanding individuals who have exhibited exceptional support and advocacy for science education in Washington.

White, a senior energy conservation engineer, has been with Chelan PUD for 15 years. He developed the PUD’s Sustainable Natural Alternative Power (SNAP) program which led the way for small-scale solar installations in the state. He conceived and built a zero-energy trailer used to demonstrate renewable energy and energy efficiency at public events; the trailer is now used by instructors at Shoreline College. 

White built a solar go-kart in his garage which was test-driven by his own children before White used it to visit fourth-grade classrooms as a fun teaching aid. He helped Wenatchee High School students build and race a real solar dragster, and last year led students at Cashmere Middle School in a project to build and race Barbie-doll-size solar cars. He helped a  friend, Marcelo da Luz, drive the  Xof1 solar car over the longest ice road in the world to Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, where the car was used to teach native school children about renewable energy.

He is a sought-after presenter at Earth Day celebrations and school science fairs. When he’s not busy with renewable energy, he’s busy as a Boy Scout leader and volunteer at numerous community projects.

“My hope is that science education in Washington will teach us all how to survive and thrive, without destroying the natural beauty that surrounds us,” White said. When working with children, his goal has always been to make science fun.

To that end, White built a solar popcorn popper and a solar-operated splash fountain. What kid can resist a chance to splash in a fountain on a warm summer day?

The award is given annually to individuals, organizations or projects that show enthusiastic support for science education. Four individuals and one organization received awards this year.

Each received $5,000, to be awarded to the not-for-profit public education entity of their choice. White designated his award for the North Central Educational Service District to buy about 150 reusable solar car kits for classrooms.

The  reward and recognition program are funded by Boeing.

LASER is a public/private partnership launched in 1999. The Washington State LASER partnership is led by the Strategic Programs Division of Pacific Science Center in Seattle and the Office of Science & Engineering Education at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

White talks about the importance of science education on the LASER website here.

Are the anti-icing chemicals sprayed on roads during the winter harmful to the environment?

A Thanksgiving holiday trip over the passes sparked that question when my husband and I spotted that big yellow-green harbinger of winter, a state Department of Transportation (DOT) anti-icer truck.

Jeff Adamson, DOT communications manager for the North Central region, said most of the calls he receives on this subject are from people worried about the effects on their vehicles, not the vegetation. But he has answers to questions on both.

First, the environment. Adamson said research along Blewett Pass essentially determined that regardless of how much de-icer or anti-icer is applied, by the time it reaches creeks or rivers it is not measurable. Environmental agencies encourage the use of de-icers rather than sand, Adamson noted, because if sand gets into a stream it can block the air flow through salmon egg beds and the eggs won’t hatch. For that reason, the DOT does not use sand at all in Tumwater Canyon.

Brown branches on trees near the roads are the result of “plow trucks throwing a 40-mile-per-hour curl of snow and ice,” and not anti-icer, Adamson said. “If you look at the back side of the tree, those branches are fine.”

A Forest Service scientist has suggested that chemicals made airborne by big trucks may be damaging branches on trees above the roadway but that damage is “extremely limited,” Adamson said. And with forests already hit hard by spruce budworm and in an unhealthy condition, well, it’s hard to say.

Now about your car. “After a trip over the pass, when you can, as soon as you can, wash the vehicle,” Adamson said. The chemicals, when mixed with water, are corrosive and should be removed. (Below freezing, he said, it doesn’t matter because the chemicals are inactive in frozen water.)

Anti-icers are liquid calcium chloride, magnesium chloride or inhibited salt brine, applied to a bare road before a storm to prevent a hard bond of ice from forming, to reduce the amount of snow buildup, and to speed snow and ice breakup after a storm. De-icers are liquid or solid calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, sodium chloride or inhibited salt brine, applied to remove a thin layer of snow or ice already on the road. It can also be used to prevent black ice and freezing rain from adhering to the road.

Although transportation officials do not make claims about reducing accidents, Adamson said they’ve been able to document that chains have been required less often since using anti-icers. Average winter speeds on Blewett Pass from 1990-99 were about 45 miles per hour, compared to nearly 60 miles per hour today.

Learn more
Snow and ice removal (WSDOT)
Winter weather resources (WSDOT)
Pacific Northwest Snowfighters
Federal Highway Administration anti-icing program 

Please drive safely
Ice and snow, take it slow (WSDOT)

Electric vehicles plug in during a demonstration at the Stevens Pass charging station at its grand opening in June. (Photo from PlugInCenter.net)

Use of electric vehicle charging stations will evolve, supporters say

An article in EV Update features the efforts of Ron Johnston-Rodriguez and other promoters of Wenatchee Valley tourism to develop electric vehicle (EV) charging stations along the Stevens Pass Highway. The author drove a Nissan Leaf over the pass and talked to the folks behind the local EV movement.

The latest counts noted in the article seem disappointing: Only about a dozen visitors have used the chargers installed a year ago at Sleeping Lady Resort in Leavenworth. The four high-speed chargers placed along the Stevens Pass highway in June have been used 200 times, the article notes. 

Ron Johnston-Rodriguez

But Johnston-Rodriguez is not dismayed. In an email, Johnston-Rodriguez, director of Plug-In North Central Washington, said a very slow ramping up of use is expected, and supporters recognize they will have to be “extremely patient” during this “Beta-phase for EVs.”

Little use was expected this travel season for two reasons, he said:  EVs have only recently become commercially available; less than 2,000 are estimated to be in use in the Seattle area. And no effort to aggressively market the EV Corridor (over Stevens Pass) for the 2012 season was launched because of uncertainties over whether the Level 3 fast-charge stations would be installed, and when. Organizers wanted to “test drive” the stations — “we wanted to have some experience with the stations to be sure we could offer driving/charging advice, etc.” — before marketing their availability.  “Add to that, we couldn’t see the point in organizing or funding an advertising program to the relatively small number of EV owners in Seattle in 2012,” he said.

2013 will be a different story, he said, with Ford, Toyota, Tesla, Honda and Fisker selling their vehicles in Seattle. The choices so far have been the Nissan Leaf, Mitsubishi iMiev or Chevy Volt.

“We’ve talked consistently about investing in charging infrastructure as a long-term investment . . . and that it may not be until 2015 that we see regular usage,” Johnston-Rodriguez said.  “The market, technology, and industry is nascent and evolving.”

Related
Stevens Pass opens first electric car charging station on on US Route 2

Alvaro Lima with his winning solar model car

Ken doll ‘drives’ model solar car 

Seventh-grader Alvaro Lima won the first-ever Solar Sprint at Cashmere Middle School on March 23 with a streamlined super cruiser piloted by a Ken doll with a bad haircut.

(My Ken doll had plastic hair molded into his plastic head. This one had a Beatles bowl cut. Go figure.)

But back to the story: After a series of heats that eliminated all but two contestants, Lima literally jumped for joy when his model solar car sprinted across the finish line on the middle school tennis courts. “I told you I would win,” he shouted to aide Daniz Lopez, who helped him build and race the car.

The race was the culmination of a project that began in February. Jim White, a Chelan County PUD engineer, and Eric Sydenstricker, PUD technician, visited the school once a week to help students in Bob Martin’s seventh grade science class build their own solar-powered model cars.

The solar experiment is part of a pilot program that has Chelan PUD employees working with four middle schools this year. It’s a joint effort with the North Central Educational Service District to build future scientists and PUD workers. Students at each school have chosen their own science projects. Cashmere’s was the first to be completed. The other middle schools and their projects are:

• Entiat, where students are building a real hovercraft. They’ve performed lab work to measure force and power, developed a simple motor circuit, and tested differences between batteries in parallel and series.

• Pioneer in Wenatchee, where students are investigating underwater welding and mechanics. They’ve learned about Boyle’s Law and conducted experiments using small chambers built by PUD divers.

• Orchard in Wenatchee. These young scientists are building a replica of Rocky Reach Dam. So far they’ve built electro magnets that demonstrate how current flow creates a magnetic field, and they’ve learned about hydraulics and kinetic energy.

The learning and fun continue into the first week of summer vacation, when the seventh-graders are invited to attend the new Action Academy at Rocky Reach. For four half days during the week of June 18, they’ll show off their projects, tour the dam, and hear about careers in science.

Related: “Where relativity meets reality” (Wenatchee World)

◄ Back

Next ►

Picture 1 of 5

Students use 3D glasses to view the color spectrum.

PUD experts help students make sense of science

Attention Cashmere Middle School parents: If your seventh grader asks you for permission to ski behind a solar-powered car over the frozen highways of Canada, blame Jim White.

White, a Chelan County PUD engineer, and Eric Sydenstricker, PUD technician, are helping students in Bob Martin’s seventh grade science class build their own solar-powered model cars. To introduce the concept, White showed the class a YouTube video of him ice-skiing behind a car that operates totally on solar energy. Not to be outdone, Sydenstricker led the class outdoors, putting his radio-controlled monster truck through a parking-lot snow bank to show off its road skills.

Pretty cool stuff, huh?

The Cashmere demonstration in January kicked off a pilot program that’s bringing PUD employees into classrooms at four middle schools this year. Ruth Erwert, recruiting program manager and Bob Bauer, communications specialist at the PUD, brought the idea to the North Central Educational Service District (ESD). Mechelle LaLanne, ESD science coordinator, worked with teachers and ESD staff to develop the program. Erwert’s goal is to make students aware of career opportunities and “build a pipeline of future workers,” she said. LaLanne’s goal is to place experts in the classrooms to complement the curriculum, which in seventh grade focuses on energy, machines and motion.

The other middle schools and their projects are:

Entiat, where students are working with teacher Kevin Jones to learn about electrical circuits and how they operate mechanical devices. PUD experts offering help and encouragement are John Sagerser, Paul Resler and Cheryl Hobson.

Pioneer in Wenatchee. Under teacher Carolyn Dotter, students plan to investigate the challenges of underwater welding and mechanics. PUD divers Donnie Lane and Brent Thrapp are assisting.

Orchard in Wenatchee. Teacher Dan Myers is working with his students to build a working model of Rocky Reach Dam. PUD employees on that project are Dan Martyn, Tim Halliday, Andy Lolos and Eric Ostrom.

PUD staff will be in the classrooms once a week for six to eight weeks. Then as soon as school is out, students can attend the Action Academy at Rocky Reach. For four half days during the week of June 18, they’ll show-and-tell about their projects, take tours of the dam, talk about how their classroom work correlates to work at the dam, and hear from more PUD staff about career options in other fields.

“Whether students attend a four-year college, a technical school, or stay in the community and apply for an apprenticeship or entry-level job, we want them to realize there are opportunities with our utility,” Erwert said.