Hey froshies, have you heard of the STEP Engineering club on campus? No? Well not to worry; I am here to tell you all about it.
Brief history about us: Founded in 2002, STEP, which stands for Sustainable Technology Education Project, is a subgroup of the larger University of Waterloo Sustainability Project (UWSP). It is led by student leaders and supported by several faculty advisors. Our mission is to educate students and the general public about sustainable design and technologies through the demonstration of projects managed, designed, and built by students.
The cool thing about STEP is that we work towards making our campus greener or more self-sustaining. In 2004, STEP installed a 1.95 kW solar system on Fed Hall. We have also studied the possibilities of installing wind turbines on campus. We arrange social and educational events for students and the public like wind farm tours and green Bomber Nights.
But you might be wandering what is happening now with STEP, so let me fill you in. We are currently in the process of installing a 15-panel solar thermal system on Village 1. Students fully designed the system that will be installed, spec’ing pumps, heat exchangers and the kinds of insulation that will be used for the piping, which is everything a consultant engineering firm would normally provide. In addition to this, we are building a monitoring system using an Arduino board and thermal and flow sensors. This system will let us document and monitor the solar thermal energy we produce.
In addition to the big project (solar thermal), we have built a bike generator, and a mobile solar system that we get to take around and use for playing music and making smoothies using 100% renewable energy.
If you are interested in sustainable technology, we have it all; nothing is too big. We have raised $40,000 for the solar system on Fed Hall and $17,000 for the solar thermal system on Village 1.
If you want to learn more about us go to our website, www.STEP.uwaterloo.ca, or search us on Facebook under STEP.
We are excited to hear from you.
Solar thermal systems
Solar energy is endless therefore solar products make our lives much more easier and we can depend on them freely.Solar heating systems are truly amazing because during power cuts still we have access to the services of solar heating systems.