Americas Cup Village in San Francisco
October 9, 2012
On Thursday, NEED partnered with PG&E to help put on an amazing event at the America’s Cup Village in San Francisco. By 2:30, the tables were set, the wind turbines were spinning, the sun came out and more than 50 eager students newly clad in their PG&E t-shirts descended on Josh Rubin, Bob Hodasah and Elly Rubin to learn about wind energy. The kids loved learning about wind power; and, surprising us all, their delight in making their own anemometers even kept them fixated as the Blue Angels soared high overhead. Once assembled, the students could measure the speed of their creations with fans powered by a solar panel and inverter – underscoring means to conserve energy and creating interest for the public at large. Many people not associated with the youth group came by to learn more about wind energy and NEED, and we even had a veteran sailor delight in making an anemometer himself! Proudly toting their anemometers and weight lifter turbines, the kids then set off to watch some of the America’s Cup races, seeing the wonderful power of wind energy harnessed by the ships’ sails and hopefully impressing them all with wind power’s importance as an energy resource.
A guest blog by Ellyn Rubin
Photo by David Kligman taken from