EWB Technion

Background

In the summer of 2010, during the first "Engineering for Developing Communities" summer course, the course participants started to build the first wind turbine. In 2011 the turbine was ready and was raised on the roof of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty at the Technion. An outcome of these workshops was the initiation of the EWB Technion wind group.

After two years of testing at the Technion, the turbine was raised again on the top of "AFAK" school in Jerusalem, and provides power to an aquaponic system for the production of agricultural produce and fish growing, making the system completely self-sufficient.

The partnership with AFAK started in 2013, after the group decided to raise the turbine together with an educational institution in order to increase the education towards renewable energy and environmental issues in general. They chose the Al-Afak school, Zur Baher neighborhood, that provides education to special needs pupils of the Arab communities of Jerusalem. The school is designated as a “green studies school”, which is a showcase for environmental projects with special emphasis on education towards sustainability.

Part of the yearlong preparation process involved the development and implementation of educational modules on topics relevant to renewable energies. The EWB team led these hands-on activity-based workshops for the students. The last activity was held last June when EWB volunteers taught the students about ecological footprint and also did an annual maintenance for the turbine.

Current Activity

The design, fabrication and construction of the turbine and peripheral systems is carried out in the EWB laboratories at the Technion. Team members are responsible for all aspects of the production of the turbine, from ordering raw materials, fabrication of the coils, generator, chassis, blades, electrical systems and ultimately the mast. Finally, integration of the systems and erecting the turbine.

The group is working these days to complete the second wind turbine, which will be raised at the Technion for testing, and will be used for cellphone charging. The volunteers are looking for a community to start a new partnership with, and to eventually raise the turbine in their setting.

In addition, the team is planning to build a station at the Technion for passersby, who will simultaneously see a screen with the data monitored by the system and the turbine. The idea is to raise awareness of renewable energies and the activities of EWB.

The special and warm partnership with AFAK will continue with visits every few months for turbine maintenance.