A couple weeks ago we began an
energy transfer unit which included listening to a guest speaker about energy
auditing, a field trip to Otterbrook Farm, and designing our own water bottle
insulator. The guest speaker was a professional energy auditor by the name of
Ted Styles. After teaching us about his profession, he took us to Otterbrook
Farm for some first-hand experience. At Otterbrook we learned about where and
how heat can escape throughout a house. For example, there were cracks in beams
that let air up into the floor. This was due to a lack of insulation in the
floors. This issue could be easy fixed by adding fiberglass batts in the
floors. We also learned how to locate air leaks in a house using a blower door,
and infrared camera, and a smoke machine. Though Otterbrook was fun, the
highlight of this unit was definitely engineering a water bottle insulator. Our
insulator only let the water rise in temperature 1.5 degrees over a course of
30 minutes. It was awesome.
