A Report from Energy Ant—My Trip to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratory Near Albuquerque, New Mexico

The Sandia National Laboratory has so many great energy resources to see and learn about! Located on the grounds of Kirtland Air Force Base (near Albuquerque, New Mexico), Sandia National Lab has one of the world's leading research centers for solar energy. While there, we were given lessons about solar as well as wind energy. In the photo (shown on the right, top image), you can see me near the part of the lab where they test solar panels — just to be sure they work.

We also saw an exhibit of a solar-powered electric car. That's cool, using the sun's energy to recharge a car so that you can drive without gasoline!

The funniest picture of me is this one (shown on the right, bottom image) — hanging on the fence at Sandia’s Solar Power Tower. Here , they take the sun's radiant energy and reflect it off of mirrors to concentrate its power, which is then used to generate heat and electricity. The mirrors can concentrate solar power so well that it can even burn through metal!