Wind power, kinetic energy, solar panels, all were considered, then discarded in three Tolt Middle School students’ quest for power.  They needed a renewable energy source to drive their invention…whatever it was.

“We were supposed to make an item… out of recycled materials, so it’s green,” Vaibhav Vijay said.

The prototype they built earned them second place in Green Manufacturing at the state Technology Student Association’s contest, and a chance to compete at the national convention in Dallas, June 21 to 25.

However, “It took a lot of work!” Vijay sighed.

Vijay and teammates Connor Burshears and Matthew Ibershof, spent almost every weekend for months working on the project, which required them to work with a business to acquire some or all of the materials for their device. The boys excitedly reported that the entire creation is built of recycled components from Zorko Electronics, Vetco, and the O’Brien Auto Group.

“We call it the Desk Buddy and it’s a USB-powered fan and light,” Burshears said.

“Because of the USB, the fan is not that powerful,” added Ibershof.

“Yeah, because we had a hard time finding a fan that would be the same voltage as the USB.” said Burshears.

Since state competition in March, the boys have been planning improvements to their Desk Buddy, but after all the ideas they’ve gone through, they’re not changing the power supply.

Kinetic energy needs too much copper wire; wind power, not feasible; solar, complicated and expensive.

“We had a solar hat idea, and then we thought no, that wouldn’t work,” Ibershof recalled. The hat could have charged different devices, but no one wanted to experiment with their own mobile phones.

“Then we looked at what we had access to,” Ibershof said. That was computer parts, mice, and various bits of electrical conduit.

“Electricians just throw this stuff away all the time,” Burshears said.

From there, the boys started thinking about how people work in cubicles, and soon had the idea for the Desk Buddy.

Their Tolt classmates, Piper Cramer, Sophia Romanelli, Delana Mooney, Susanna Andrews and Sheridan Michaud, were their sole competition in manufacturing.

They claimed first place in the division with a plastic-bag based raincoat, and will also compete nationally in Dallas.