Tools

School District 51 Constructs Wind Turbine

by KREX News Room
by Danielle Kreutter

Story Created: Oct 29, 2012 at 8:16 PM MDT

Story Updated: Oct 30, 2012 at 10:00 AM MDT

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.- On Monday afternoon School District 51's Career Center got a new addition to the campus.

It's a large wind turbine that's part of a bigger plan to incorporate renewable energy systems into the vocational curriculum.

"This is a really neat sort of historic occasion for District 51 to have this tool," said Eric Anderson, energy manager for School District 51.

The "tool" is a 45-foot tall wind turbine, courtesy of the "Wind for Schools" project.

"There's a lot of relevancy with the academics when you apply them to what is needed in the vocational area they are interested in," said Pat Chapin, principal of the center.

Chapin hopes to use the turbine to jumpstart a new energy studies program and let other schools use the turbine in their curriculums, too.

"We'll be able to disseminate that data to other high schools, maybe an environmental engineering class, an environmental science class or a fourth grade class studying about wind energy," Chapin said.

In the spring, construction students helped build rows and rows of solar panels, giving the center two avenues to explore renewable energy.

"Now we have real life systems, real life data and our students can begin to use this in everyday classroom settings to analyze these systems and what they can do," said Anderson.

The conception of the energy studies program at the Career Center is still in the very early stages, but Chapin tells NewsChannel 5 it may also explore nonrenewable energy sources like coal and oil.

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