Boston Latin School wins solar tent for outdoor classroom

FTL Solar LLC, New York, N.Y., and the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) teamed up this spring to promote green energy education to school kids.

More than 100 students participated in NWF’s Eco-Schools USA contest by making “green wishes” for their school. Boston Latin School (BLS), the oldest school in the United States, won the competition’s grand prize, a 10-by-10-foot PowerMod self-sustaining solar tent donated by FTL Solar for use as an outdoor classroom.

Todd Dalland, FTL Solar founder and president, says that it was particularly appropriate that the tent was presented to the school at a climate change summit for youth and educators held in May at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In a presentation at the summit, Dalland outlined how the photovoltaic (PV) tent, which produces one kilowatt hour per day, integrates educational topics:

• Science: molecules in different layers of material are stimulated by sunlight to create an electrical energy flow.
• Engineering: the structure captures this electricity, storing it and delivering it to homes, buildings, cars and equipment.
• Architecture: the technology lends itself to the design of self-powered buildings that use their own roofs, walls and parking lots as power generators.
• Social studies: the decentralizing of power generation affects urban and suburban design.
• Business: the reduction of our carbon footprint and dependence on gasoline reduces pollution and global warming, which saves money and stabilizes the international economy.

FTL Solar produces flexible, lightweight PV fabric-based products that are integrated with Ascent Solar PV modules. Classic Party Rentals, Torrance, Calif., handles North American rentals of the PowerMod PV Tent products; Aztec Tents, Torrance, Calif., manufactures FTL Solar’s rental tents; and AC Fabricated Products, Jackson, Ala., manufactures FTL Solar’s military tents.