Approximately 600 students had a chance to see clean energy come to life Saturday on Earth Day 2023.
The event was several marking Earth Day, which began on Apri 22, 1970.
EnergyWhiz competitions took place at Florida Solar Energy Center in Cocoa including students from Pine Crest School in Boca Raton, Hidden Oaks Middle School in Palm City, Conscious Kids Association in Loxahatchee and Wellington Landings in Wellington.
Florida Power & Light's Solar Now program supported the event with competitions that included energy-related artwork, a race between solar-powered cars and a solar-powered cookoff.
Also students competed in an Electrathlon where they designed electric-powered go karts and tested them to maximize distance traveled within a specific time limit.
The initiative gives kindergarten through 12th grade students the chance to build career skills in Science, Technology, Engineering, Artistic and Mathematics (STEM) as the workforce is needed for the clean energy sector.
FPL submitted a video of the day's activities.
Also Saturday, FPL captured time-lapse video of its tracker solar panels at the Cavendish Solar Energy Center in Okeechobee County, which came online in January.
Tracker solar panel technology uses data to follow the path of the sun, maximizing the zero-carbon emission energy generated at FPL solar energy centers.
The energy center will power Florida's first clean hydrogen energy facility using solar power and water, and is expected to be completed by the end of year.
In other Earth Day activities:
Daggerwing Nature Center
A total of 842 people attended activitie at Burt Aaronson South County Regional Park in western Boca Raton.
The center, which is operated by the Palm Beach County Parks and Recration department, included animal encounters, crafts, environmental presentations, a butterfly plant sale, ladybug release, meet-and-greets with Oakly the PBC Parks & Recreation mascot.
Animals included presentation of a Florida alligator, ladybug release and gopher turtle.
Daggerwing submitted a video of the day's activities.
West Palm Beach residents cleaned Currie Park and the Intracoastal with the help of Keep West Palm Beach Beautiful, Discover the Palm Beaches and the Beach Bucket Foundation.
The city posted a video on its YouTube page.
Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Resources Management
A group of volunteers spent three hours cleaning up Hypoluxo Scrub Natural Area.
The volunteers concentrated the parking lot, the natural area's fence line with Overlook Road and the restored wetlands. The group filled nine large bags with trash.
Other images can be found on its Facebook page.
Village of Wellington
Along the Town Center Promenade, council members planted a Pond Cypress Tree in honor of Arbor Day. There were free activities, including demonstrations and displays of earth-friendly products, face painting and free native seedlings.
Other images can be found Facebook on its Facebook page.
Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office
PBSO helped residents clean up areas in the county.
More images can be found on its Twitter.
Boynton Beach
Community Greening gave out 300 trees, and the City of Boynton Beach Recreation and Parks Department passed out 200 plants at a Go Green even that included vendors, food trucks and city departments.
More images can be found on its Facebook page.
Coral Cove Beach in Tequesta
On Sunday, more than 60 volunteers closed out Earth Week with a beach cleanup at Coral Cove Beach. The International WeLoveU Foundation and Junior Achievement of the Palm Beaches & Treasure Coast teamed up to launch an Earth Week initiative that aims to educate and inspire students to take care of the planet.
A webinar series, which was streamed in schools across Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast, ran from Monday to Friday with more than 6,000 students and teachers from various middle and high schools tuning in.
More images can be found on its website.
