Southwest Windpower - Renewable Energy Made Simple

Class science project has some power

Morning Sentinel (ME)
March 1, 2010
www.onlinesentinel.com

NORTH ANSON -- One class at Carrabec Community School hopes its windmill project will help power the district.

Cindy Flanagin's eighth-grade Earth science class has been busy the past few weeks researching zoning regulations, wind turbine manufacturers and different types of wind turbine blades, in an effort to bring one or two small, residential windmills to generate electricity for School Administrative District 74.

"It would be kind of cool to be put on the map," said Richard Layton, 15, of Embden, who is one of Flanagin's 68 students invested in the project. "It wouldn't be the little town with nothing in it. It would be the town with windmills."

Although the project is in the preliminary stages -- the class still needs to raise up to $50,000 -- students said they want to help the community save the environment and money, possibly $10,000 per year in electricity savings.

"I think that we as a community need to come together to think of more efficient ways for our environment," said Tyler Pinkham, 13, of Embden.

Riley Tennent, 13, of North Anson, explained that the wind turbine would send power to the grid, so the district would be reimbursed for the electricity it provided. In addition to the benefit of the money, the project would demonstrate what students are capable of, she said.

"We'd be showing the community we can come together and actually accomplish something like this," she said.

Makayla Leeman, 13, of Anson, said she has never before been involved in a school project that could have such a significant impact on the community.

There are many steps that need to happen for the project to succeed, Flanagin said. The class needs a windy site, an appropriate design, funding and final approval from the school board and taxpayers.

Professor Mick Womersley is lead faculty in the Sustainability Design and Technology Program at Unity College. With Paul Villeneuve, an associate professor at the University of Maine at Orono, the two produce wind maps for organizations and individuals across the state to determine the best locations for wind turbines.

Although there are many wind turbines located at schools across the United States, there are not many in Maine, Womersley said. But he anticipates the use of wind energy will increase.

"I think it's going to be something a lot of schools will think about, particularly if they're at windy sites," he said. "But it isn't necessarily easy to do, and there isn't necessarily a lot of power available in the state of Maine. You have to be on a fairly tall open hill or on the seashore to have one of these turbines that will actually pay for itself."

He stressed the importance of understanding the variety of turbines available. "In the mind of Maine residents, wind has gotten a bad rap," he said. "They're tending to lump the small, quiet turbines in with the large-scale commercial turbines that have been installed in places like Mars Hill and Stetson Ridge."

The federal government has developed two small, quiet turbines for specific use by schools, he said. They are the Skystream 3.7, made by Southwest Windpower in Arizona, and Northwind 100, made by Northern Power Systems in Vermont.

Boog Dunphy, 13, of North Anson, one student working on the project, said some people might be concerned about noise or vibrations but that his class is considering the quiet kind of turbine.

Betta Stothart Connor is communications director for the Chewonki Foundation, an organization in Wiscasset that teaches appreciation for the natural world. Chewonki is scheduled to erect a wind turbine this spring to supplement its other energy sources.

There has been a lot of focus on large-scale wind energy projects in the state, Stothart Connor said, but it's important to not forget the smaller sites.

"Rather than wait for large wind energy projects to be approved, we really support organizations and people thinking about what they can do in their own backyard to find renewable sources of energy," she said.

The windmill project is a "real learning, cross-curriculum" project, Flanagin said. Students are using math, social studies, language arts and science "all together to do something for their community," she said. Although they do not have a final proposal together -- Flanagin said the project is still in the "infancy stage" -- they have researched the elevations of the district's towns, how many kilowatts are needed and what makes wind.

"The kids know about the economy, and they know our school budget is lower than normal, and this is something they wanted to do to help out, and I think that's pretty admirable of them," she said.

People can vote for the windmill project at www.refresheverything.com, beginning today, Flanagin said. Depending on the number of votes cast, grant money may be awarded.