Students at St. Joseph’s school in Coaldale will get a very hands-on approach to learning this coming school year.
A micro wind turbine has been installed on school grounds as part of ENMAX Corporation’s GEN E program, and this year’s class will be the first to use it as part of their lessons.
Superintendent of Holy Spirit Catholic Schools, Christopher Smeaton tells Global News the idea behind the program is to teach students about renewable energy technologies.
“They are going to track how much energy is going to be produced by the wind turbine and they’ll translate that in science or math class into what that energy can be used for. Certainly renewable energy is an important piece in our science curriculum, but also in our world today and that will help make it come alive in our classroom,” he adds.
St. Joseph’s is the second school in the province with a wind turbine on campus and according to an ENMAX spokesperson; they approved the grant for the turbine because southern Alberta is able to generate enough wind energy.
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“When we install micro wind turbines we want them in parts of the province with high activity and the southern parts of the province we know we can get enough data. It’s great for the students which means they can look out the window, see the turbine spin, and know how much power is being generated at their school at that moment,” says ENMAX.
ENMAX launched the GEN E program in 2008 which includes the installation of solar PV systems on school roofs.
St. Joseph’s will use both the solar PV system and turbine to indirectly supply power to their IPAD labs.
School officials say St. Joseph’s will be used as a pilot project before expanding the technology at other Holy Spirit Catholic Schools in the future.
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