Wind turbines whip up excitement, school pride

They're about 50 feet high, whirl like pinwheels and instill an excitement in students and a pride in a community that is hard to match.

They're wind turbines installed in schoolyards around the west, whipping up energy to help power the schools, and whipping up enthusiasm for next-generation scientists and engineers.

The Wind for Schools project of the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory is churning, having installed 42 Southwest Windpower SkyStream 3.7 turbines so far, with a goal of five new turbines each year for the 11 states already part of the program. Eventually, 35 states are expected to participate.

That's enough critical mass, say the researchers, for the idea to catch fire, and for states and school districts to take on the installations themselves. And when that happens, there will be such a groundswell of informed eagerness for wind energy among young people that the fear of shortages of skilled labor for the wind industry might subside.

"It's a great fit for our area in that wind is something we deal with all of our lives around here," Kyle Hebberd, superintendent at the Walsh School District in southeast Colorado, said at the dedication ceremonies for the wind turbine at Walsh High School. "It's great to see it finally put to some productive use."

The students at Walsh walk by their wind turbine every day, get some of their electricity from it, and can incorporate the energy data into their math and science classes.

More than that, the turbine at the high school blows excitement all over town.

Turbines educate, point to future jobs

This month, the students in the upper grades at Walsh Elementary School are crafting their own mini-turbines in what Chenoweth calls the Blade Challenge. It's embryonic in Colorado, but huge in Maine, where more than a dozen high schools compete to design blades that will create the most power.

Janet Chenoweth, who teaches science to fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-graders, became a Wind Senator through the KidWind project and is becoming an ambassador for wind-energy curriculum in southeast Colorado.

"Oh my gosh, they're excited," Chenoweth said. "Ever since the wind turbine went up there, my kids have been saying, 'When can we do wind energy?' If we can get them excited over here, the science teachers in the high school can take it from there."

The idea began in Colorado, where NREL has its headquarters.

"We used rural Colorado as our sandbox to see what rural school officials were interested in," said NREL engineer Larry Flowers, the National Technical Director of Wind Powering America.

After meeting several times with rural officials, "We decided a simple, low-cost package with a curriculum, sited and installed in collaboration with university engineering students and the local electric co-op was the ticket."

NREL Director Dan Arvizu agreed to buy green energy certificates for the projects as part of NREL's sustainability program.

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter said the school wind turbine projects are an important example of how Colorado is participating in the "New Energy Economy."

"Educating today's young people about the benefits and mechanics of renewable energy prepares them for a wealth of future opportunities," Ritter said. He said the Wind in Schools program also demonstrates the crucial role rural communities can play.

"It's a great way to introduce wind energy to communities in a not very threatening, educational way," said Ian Baring-Gould, senior research supervisor for wind technology deployment at NREL's National Wind Technology Center. "It allows the community to take a more active role in their energy future."

It needs to happen because the Department of Energy (DOE) envisions the United States getting as much as 20 percent of its electricity from wind power by 2030, the year today's toddlers graduate from college, eager to establish careers in forward-looking industries.

The DOE expects 500,000 wind-related jobs by 2030 if the 20 percent scenario comes to pass. That would be a six-fold increase in wind-related jobs from today.

Read more at www.nrel.gov.