Students Showcase Sustainability Ideas For Portsmouth

In one of the projects, New Castle student Scarlett Graham proposed incorporating green roofs on city buildings, featuring trees and other greenery along with walking paths for the public to enjoy. "I know that Portsmouth is becoming an urban city, but I also want to keep it livable for people who live in the city," said Graham, adding that green roofs "reduce carbon dioxide, they lower the risk of flooding, and they also insulate the building, which is so, so great."
"This will make Portsmouth very, very beautiful and very natural," said Graham.
Portsmouth eighth-grader Gunner Jackson made a model of a motion-sensored faucet after learning about Portsmouth's water usage. He faucet would shut the water off if the sensor doesn't detect someone's hands under it.
"Water use efficiency in Portsmouth is not very good and it needs to change," said Jackson. "A lot of people leave their sinks on."
Eighth-grade science teacher Kristen Sweeney said she was impressed by students' work and how intelligently they were able to speak about their ideas to the public. "They've had a lot of voice and a lot of choice in this project. The kids are really engaged, the public seems very impressed," she said.
A few of the students came up with great ideas that may never have been thought of before, said Sweeney. One such student is Enzo Cesar Pedreira of Portsmouth, whose project was to use the kinetic energy from ocean tides to power a portion of the city. Instead of using turbines, Pedreira proposed using a floating device and copper coiled around a magnetic pole. A sliding mechanism between the copper and the magnet would create friction with the movement of the tides. That friction would then be converted into electricity.
"It's nice for me, I feel good about coming up with something new," said Pedreira, addressing the originality of his project. "If it helps the community, it makes me feel good about it."
Pedreira said he came up with the idea after learning that a vast majority of street lights run on fossil fuels. Despite his knack for engineering, Pedreira said his future career goals include going to medical school to become a surgeon. "My engineering side comes from my father, he's an engineer," he said.
According to Sweeney, the sustainability project was part of the eighth-grade combined science and language arts class curriculum. The students' task was to choose one of United Nation's Sustainable Development goals and create a project that would meet that goal. They wrote essays on their chosen topics and combined research skills with hands-on work to help solve their chosen issue.