A UK company, in collaboration with the national energy foundation, has designed, tested and marketed renewable energy kits, like a small wind turbine. The buyers are schools, power companies and sustainable energy organisations. Manufacturers are sought with connections to educational supplies markets, to license the design and know-how, and market it.

No-one can overestimate the importance of teaching and educating children and grown-ups in the subject of renewable energies. In the USA, there seems to be a good choice of teaching aids and kits, to demonstrate how they work. Hands-on experience allows pupils a much better understanding. Europe seems to be lagging a bit in that respect.

To fill the void, the National Energy Foundation (NEF) of the United Kingdom has commissioned the design and manufacture of small-scale kits that produce various kinds of renewable energy.

An East of England SME has collaborated with NEF to design, test and manufacture them. The purpose has been to make kits aimed at schoolchildren, but also energy-conscious adults.

The result is a first-to-market collection of kits, being tested for 18 months now, with overwhelmingly positive feedback. The figure below shows the most popular one, the wind turbine kit. The turnover of the kit is between 100-200 a month, retailing at about 145 EUR, the clients being not only schools, but also power companies and government organisations. The power companies would use it as a marketing tool and brand it with their logo. The kits have also caught the attention of catalogue wholesalers.

The success in the domestic market has inspired the company to search for new ones. The proposed business model is to license the design rights to manufacturers, with connections to the educational supplies market. The adopter would fabricate the metal components (or the offering company can supply them), and do the assembly. Once the collaboration takes off, other products will be discussed like the solar water heater kit and the solar photovoltaic kit. More detail is available on the products at www.ecostyle.co.uk.

The competition seems to fall in 2 distinct categories. The low-end wind turbine kits cost around 36 EUR (£25), and come with a very simple setup to demonstrate the possibility of generating electricity. In the other end, there are the 1000 EUR (£700) kits that are recommended not just for demonstration, but for actual charging of batteries and doing some useful work.

The proposed kit retails for about 145 EUR (£100). It seems to have a distinct niche between the mentioned areas of competition. It is meant to not just demonstrate renewable energy, but to actually measure the output. It comes with activity sheets that give examples for pupils’ science products. One can vary the gearing and the number and pitch of blades, and measure the output in Volts. To make it more fun, a motor, a LED and a buzzer are included for demonstration. In the UK, such experiments have been done during lessons of science, physics and design, and after-school activities. The design is simple (assembly time for the manufacturer currently 1 hour), yet meant to last. It is durable enough to stand outdoor experiments for years. As opposed to the low-end competition, the turbine rotates around the vertical axis.

The retail price allows for a good mark-up for the company. Innovative Aspects:

-The novel design allows one to vary the gearing and the number and pitch of propeller blades. As a consequence, pupils will have a hands-on experience and learn some elements of scientific research.

-Rotation around vertical axis;

-Easy to manufacture and easy to use;

-Durable and professional looking;

-Good price/quality ratio and a good mark-up for the manufacture.

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