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Electric Vehicle on Display at Children’s Museum

Beginning April 17, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis invites visitors to go green as the organization kicks off its 2010 celebration of Earth Week. Numerous programs, displays and activities have been created to educate visitors on the importance of our environment and the role people can play in its preservation.

Throughout the week, visitors will have the opportunity to check out a brand new vehicle called the IDEA. The IDEA, built by Anderson-based Bright Automotive, is a brand-new, 100-mpg plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV) vehicle designed for commercial fleets. Bright Automotive plans to release the IDEA in 2013.

The kickoff on Saturday features a number of environmentally focused activities. Visitors can:

Make recycled jewelry
Create a newspaper seed pot
Explore the museum’s Rain Garden
Take part in the Recycling Relay
Speak with an expert from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to hear how you can stop the spread of the emerald ash borer
Visitors will also be able to speak with a variety of organizations to learn more about ways to help the environment and make a difference.

“We feel it is extremely important to educate families on the importance of being good stewards of our environment,” said Dr. Jeffrey H. Patchen, president and CEO of The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. “These children will soon shoulder that responsibility and this week will certainly help prepare them for that responsibility.”

In addition to the many environmentally focused activities happening inside The Children’s Museum, visitors will notice a new addition sprouting outside the museum.

Beginning April 19, a new garden will cover more than 4,000 square feet of the museum’s roof space. The space is visible from the Sunburst Window, located on the Mezzanine level of the Sunburst Atrium.

The rooftop garden will feature a product called GreenGrid®, a lightweight modular green roof product, and will have several different types of sedum. Sedum comes in several varieties and is a very strong plant that will withstand an Indiana weather environment.

“Becoming a more sustainable building has been a top priority of ours for quite some time,” said Patchen. “During our recent construction, we installed a new Rain Garden and this green roof allows us to continue down that sustainable path.”

To install the GreenGrid® product, the museum is working with Carmel-based Domain Roofing. The installation process is expected to take between three and five days. Upon completion, The Children’s Museum plans to conduct regular programming designed to educate visitors about green roofs and the benefits associated with having one.

Source: The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis