A 14-year-old student came up with an innovative idea that might mean sustainable energy for Bermuda for years to come.

"My idea was like, Bing the Light Bulb," exclaimed Peter Cooper, the winner of the Sustainable Energy Challenge which led up to Global Entrepreneurship Week, the week of 16 to 20 November.

The Saltus Grammar School student was effortlessly able to envisage an inexpensive, effective, and successful solution for sustainable energy.

His idea was an alternative to solar panels. It would use furan heated by the sun at a low boiling point to power a mini steam engine piston, which would generate energy, recharging a battery pack.

Equipped with knowledge from detailed science classes, which involved "The Drinking Bird," Peter came up with his idea.

"The solution is very inexpensive," declared Peter. "It's only one hundred dollars plus the cost of a litre of furan."

Peter explained that his idea came to him instantly, with most of the effort and time spent on deciding what he would use and how he would use it.

Second and third place winners were Alex Thompson presenting "Energy from Trash" and Erin Gillespie presenting "The Electric Water Heater".

Alex's idea was to generate ethanol from seaweed, algae or organic waste. Erin's plan was to mandate electric timers on residential hot water heaters.

Jason Smith, a young engineer with PureENERGY who was one of the judges said of the competition: "I think that all of the ideas brought forth were excellent, and most if not all were applicable in Bermuda.

"Peter Cooper's idea stood out from the others so much because it was a completely different idea from the rest.

"Where the other students used traditional renewable energy technologies, Peter thought up something not completely new, but he had obviously put a lot of thought into the challenge

"I thought that he had done a lot of research and had really thought through the sustainable energy challenge and what it was truly about."

The Bermuda Department of Energy, the Host Committee for the Sustainable Energy Challenge, invited senior students to put forward ideas for an innovative, practical method for generating and/or using sustainable energy.

Submissions were 'electronic storyboards', PowerPoint presentations or video presentations.

The Host Committee chose the 'Super 7' teams, the seven with the best ideas, to present their ideas to a panel of eminent judges who would establish the top solutions and award prizes.

Prizes for individual winners included a cell phone, and iPod Touch and $1,000 educational grant, and the prizes for members of the winning team were an iPod Touch each.

As a result of his individual win and because he was the youngest of all the competitors, Peter has become more confident, and his desire to enter future competition has increased.

Peter's feelings could not be concealed as he expressed his excitement about winning first prize.

He had absolutely no clue what he would do with his educational grant of $1,000.

Overall, the experience was exciting, suspenseful and rewarding for Peter.