Learning about renewable energy doesn't involve listening to lectures and staring at textbooks for students at Tyner Academy.
Instead, they're learning by doing - building an energy-efficient tiny house that will be powered by solar energy.
"A lot of people don't know how much you can do with the sun," said Tynia Palmer, a junior at Tyner. "Now we do."
Palmer and her classmates are working on the house's thermal roof, and in coming weeks will be adding solar panels, a composting toilet and a solar oven to the structure.
"You kind of forget you're at school when you're working on this," 10th-grader Demetrius Williams said.
Instructor Jerry Webb said teaching about solar and thermal energy through the building project helps students see the practical implications of what they're learning.
"This opens their eyes to ways they can easily lower energy costs even in their own homes," Webb said.
Many of the students are using power tools for the first time. They also are learning how different paint colors, light bulbs and materials impact energy costs, and in coming weeks they will learn how to conduct energy audits, Webb said.
Funding for the project was donated. The shell of the tiny house, which is about 8 feet wide and 20 feet long, was donated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which is sponsoring the project.
TVA promotes energy conservation and STEM education, program manager Charley Spencer said.
"Sponsoring the Tyner tiny house is a way to accomplish these twin goals and represents an investment in these students' future careers by giving them hands-on experience with STEM concepts they are learning in the classroom," Spencer said.
Once the house is complete, Webb and his students plan to take it to other schools across the county and use it to teach other students about renewable energy.
Spencer said he hopes the house may also "inspire more Hamilton County students into choosing career paths that they may not ever have envisioned."
The students working on the house said there's been a lot of trial and error throughout the project, especially on the thermal roof.
"It was even hard 'cause a lot of them were afraid of heights," said 11th-grader Aubré Williams, pointing to her classmates. "I'm not afraid so I had to do a lot of that work."
The students had to cut large sheets of the thermal material and use an adhesive to attach it to the roof. Students stood on ladders and used water bottles to roll the sheets flat, as they must be airtight to work efficiently, Williams said.
And the work to finish the inside of the house looks complicated, too, students said. The tiny house is composed of a small living room, a kitchen and a bathroom. Students are still developing plans, and hope they can build a loft to hold a bed.
The kids plan to lay tile on the floor, as it is both energy- and cost-efficient, they said.
Students' reactions were mixed when asked who would want to live in a house this small.
"It just wouldn't work," Aubré Williams said. "I have too much stuff."
"Me, too," agreed Demetrius Williams. "And did you see how small that bathroom is?"
Contact staff writer Kendi A. Rainwater at 423-757-6592 or krainwater@timesfreepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kendi_and.