Educators focus on a sustainable future at annual forum
Palm Beach State College’s Institute for Energy and Environmental Sustainability (IEES) hosted the third annual Florida Colleges Energy Education Forum on Jan. 31 at the Palm Beach Gardens campus.
K-12 and college-level teachers met with representatives from renewable energy companies, the Energy and Materials Center at The Scripps Research Institute, South Florida Water Management District, the Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center and the Florida Department of Education. The daylong event featured presentations and workshops on biofuel, wind, ocean and solar energy—all with the real potential to make Florida a leading force in renewable energy production, requiring a skilled workforce.
In the photo, Amy Patterson, Florida Power & Light electric vehicle coordinator, shows one of 55 Ford F-150 trucks converted to a plug-in hybrid, part of FPL’s “green fleet” that will include 200 hybrid bucket trucks by the end of the year. Looking under the hood as Patterson explains are (l) Amir Abtahi, a professor in Florida Atlantic University’s Ocean and Mechanical Engineering department and (r) Marcelo DeOliveira, president, WeGlobal Technologies.
The forum was sponsored by the Florida Energy Systems Consortium in collaboration with the Florida Advanced Technological Education Center (FLATE), a National Science Foundation Center of Excellence.
