The Alternative Energy Center (AEC) is a group of Physics Honors and AP Physics students at Key West High School in the Florida Keys committed to environmental responsibility. The students take their classroom experiences to the community and beyond. These students participate in rigorous courses designed to prepare students to create a 'green' economy. Through a combination of rigorous academic and hands-on classroom experiences, the students provide a service to the outlying community by teaching and promoting best practices for adopting innovative alternative energy technology solutions. Through the AEC, students are working to produce 100% biodiesel for Monroe County school buses to defray the extensive costs to fuel those vehicles. Eventually, this product would be produced for other vehicles in Monroe County. Whether publicly or privately owned, other fleets would be able to depend on this alternative source of energy for daily use or as a contingency should the community be stranded without networked power grids and fuel during disastrous effects such as hurricanes and flooding. While the production and use of biodiesel is an integral part of the program, it is only one of many methods the group is implementing; the program also involves installing wind turbines that will produce reusable wind energy to substantially decrease the school's energy costs and minimize its use of traditional power. The Alternative Energy Center grew from students and teachers collaborating to solve a social issue that is not isolated to the people living only in the local community. It is a growing global concern that energy demands are reaching an exhausted state and converting to 'green' technology is inevitable. With that in mind, the students at Key West High School wanted to make a difference starting now. Receiving virtually no money or support, the AEC's foundation was laid through a grassroots campaign to improve student learning while adding the value of service to the planet through applied science, math, art and technology. Over the years, the program has gained considerable interest, with increasing student enrollment, biodiesel production, and the addition of wind energy -- not to mention tremendous support from the community. The success of the program is owed to its participants, the students, who lead the staff in every possible direction with their enthusiasm and desire to make a difference in their community. The students take multiple roles in the AEC ranging from finance and public relations to the construction of biodiesel filters, which also serves as a hands-on learning process. Students in the program are fully invested in promoting community awareness.

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