It’s been all too common these days to open the paper and read about education and the lack there of for today’s students. They’re cutting music programming, kids are performing average or below average in science and math and we’re (the U.S.) not doing anything to encourage our youth past turning on the most recent reality TV shows or playing their PS2 (that’s PlayStation 2 – if there isn’t something new by now). But let me tell you … my faith has been restored at NextFest!

As I’ve worked the Energy booths and observed patrons over the past three days it’s been so refreshing to see the interest in science and technology. Sure, it’s cool to look at a flying car or a robot that is, quite frankly, all too human, but it really went beyond that with the children. Throughout the education day I watched students from fourth graders to sophomores in high school ask thought-provoking and insightful questions about renewable energy. The detail of their questions and the knowledge they brought to the exhibits was impressive – they were truly educated consumers in training. They knew what a megawatt was – something that I would have to admit I don’t think I knew until physics class in junior year of high school – they were able to guess within 20 feet the height of a wind turbine and they knew how solar panels worked and why wind turbines couldn’t be residential.

One student informed me, “The wind turbines can’t be residential because it’s too much money to connect them to the electric wires, but my Dad says there’s a Wal-Mart that has wind turbines powering it and that’s cool. I bet you I could figure out a way to make some wind turbines for my house.� And, he’s actually fairly accurate. There is difficulty and expense around residential wind (something GE doesn’t dabble in to my knowledge) with grid connectivity and power distribution and there is an Environmental Wal-Mart Supercenter in McKinney, Texas, that has a 50 kW wind turbine powering it on site.

The teachers deserve credit too, as many of them would explain each exhibit and even told their students there would be a quiz the next day on what they had learned (we found this out by watching a studious young boy scribble notes feverishly on his NextFest program) as he really “wanted the ‘A’.� Some of the teachers that came through discussed with me that they went on the NextFest website in advance and learned about the exhibits and taught their students about specific ones so they could get them excited and them have them see the real thing the following week.

Overall, this technology exhibition is an impressive forum for innovation – tomorrow’s ideas and today’s technology. It’s a great venue for educating and inspiring young and mature minds. So far, it’s certainly been an encouraging weekend. I look forward to seeing what develops from the scientists in training I’ve met. Hopefully they’ll keep their innovative and educated spirit.

I had to moment to chat with Sara Backlund, Studio Director for the Interactive Institute in Sweden. We spoke about her group’s work with technologies that help people visualize how much energy they are consuming. The Interactive Institute is a think tank that tackles many issues – their unique approach begins with an idea, followed by several weeks of surveys and interviews of “regular people�. They use that survey data to guide the research of the Institute and its students.

Among the technologies on display at NEXTFEST was a lamp that opens or closes (think flower petals) based on your home’s energy consumption. Using too much power? You’ll have to cut back before you can light up your living room.

Sara also illustrated the wasted energy in a light bulb. “Only 5% of the energy is used for light…the other 95% is given off as heat,� she explained. To demonstrate the energy “loss� as well as provide a functional appliance, the Institute developed a matrix of light bulbs that act as a light as well as a heater. In the somewhat chilly convention air, several people stopped to warm their hands as if the “Element� was a campfire of sorts.

My chat with Interactive Institute has got me thinking about how design and ecomagination can go together. Certainly, the aesthetics of a GEnx aircraft engine are far less important than safety and efficiency. However, can a wind turbine be both a power generation engine as well as a beautiful part of the landscape? Can it remind us to conserve what power we do have? And will it be NEXT?

So far there has been plenty of talk about what’s happening inside the Javits Center for NextFest, but WIRED also has other NextFest events going on around the city. Last night a few of us checked out Next Music at Irving Plaza.

A young, artsy crowd packed the ballroom for three innovative acts – Peeping Tom, Diplo, and Girl Talk. When we were there, we danced (badly, most likely) to the unique sounds of DJ Diplo, who mixed everything from The Beatles to Kanye West to Paul Simon. The music’s visual counterpart was just as varied. Fight scenes from Kill Bill, subtitled foreign films, and Napoleon Dynamite’s dance moves (my personal favorite) appeared on a giant screen above the stage. There was a cool energy in the crowd and we all had a great time.

The concert, which was presented by WIRED and Flavorpill, benefited Creative Commons. It’s a nonprofit that provides free copyright licenses that let artists, authors, and other content creators share their information with the public tell the world exactly which parts of their copyright they are happy to give to the public. Sounds pretty sweet.

One thing I’ve noticed with Wired NextFest attendees is that they are really interested in all of the details of the new technologies and the new ways to apply existing technologies. Again today, the visitors at the Water booth surprised me with their insightful questions. The volume level in the exhibit hall is quite loud as everyone asks their questions and answers. I’ve had to project my voice so much that my diaphragm feels like I’ve been doing situps all day! It is well worth it though as we educate attendees on water solutions.

An exciting visitor who stopped by our booth was Chairman Connaughton from the Energy Council. He learned all about the water solutions that we provide.

Just a little over 1 1/2 days left to enjoy the show.

There’s lots going on at NEXTFEST Saturday. It’s the second day that the exhibit is open to the public and the crowds are huge!! Some of my earlier day 2 highlights are women’s high heel shoe with a GPS locator and a video screen on the bottom that projects video! The next generation soldiers gear has technology that can tell where a soldier has been shot; and infrared video technology built into the helmet.

A shameless plug; the GE “Edison’s Desk” is running a video feed for GE on Demand, a podcast series of GE scientists providing glimpses into their labs. Like the whole scientist exhibit, its drawing great crowds. Yeah scientists!

In case no one mentioned it before, there is a Main stage here with presentations and panel discussions every couple of hours. Shortly, there will be a discussion with a group of inventors to talk about Robots and their human-like qualities. Nextfest is featuring some pretty amazing bots: ballroom dancers, Albert Einstein, and robotic limbs. It starts at noon and runs about 45 minutes.

Participants include: David Hanson, Hanson Robotics (Albert Einstein face creators); Takehashi Mita, Kokoro Company (creators of the Actroid).

Here’s the schedule for the rest of the afternoon….

Let’s Go Already: The Future of Exploration 2:00 - 2:45 PM.

Robots: Here We are Now, Entertain Us 4:00 - 4:45 PM