Approximately 354 freshmen students created posters and demonstrative exhibits illustrating "energy around us" principles of engineering. The Tsongas Industrial History Center displayed the exhibits to educate K-12 students about energy.
Students in the Conduction and Radiation course assessed and analyzed winter heat loss for the city of Lowell's civic center building. The students provided a heat loss analysis of the current window system along with a payback analysis according to a suggested window replacement system. This project provided a helpful opportunity for students and faculty to gain an enhanced understanding of local community needs. In addition, the city was provided with useful information and an informed heat loss analysis of their current window system in the JFK Civic Center.
The city of Lowell, Massachusetts has collaborated with students from UMass Lowell, MassSAVE, and National Grid to complete its first ever "Getting to Zero Energy Challenge". Designed for residents of Lowell Massachusetts, a contest that yields two $25,000 grants will be awarded by a panel of judges to two (2) homes which are determined to be the most energy efficient. To help the homes become more energy efficient, energy audits were conducted by the students at multifamily and single family residences of applicants to the contest, and analyses and simulations performed to provide ideas of improvements and estimates of energy (and cost) savings.
An affordable, energy efficient home was designed and analyzed by the students for the Tohono O'odham Nation, located in the southwest region of Arizona. The main purpose of this house was to improve the quality of life for the citizens of the reservation by incorporating modern engineering and energy efficient principles with their culture and traditions. The home was heated and cooled entirely from passive solar techniques, such as south-facing windows with overhangs, thermal mass, and insulation.
The students designed and built exhibits to illustrate Energy Transfers for middle school visitors at the Tsongas Industrial History Center.
Twelve graduate students in Adjunct Professor Amy Cannon's course titled Sustainable Materials Design were given an assignment of constructing exhibits that could be used at the Earth Day event. Having made time for working on this assignment in the course allowed the graduate students to develop a number of exhibits ranging from one titled "The Clickable Principles" where students developed a way to explain the 12 Principles of Green Chemistry within the context of the home to another exhibit which explained the link between renewable energy and powdered donuts.