Tuesday 6/11/2007 Page: 16
Wind farms have come to be associated with coastal cliffs and controversy. But a quietly ambitious project at Northland Secondary College has seen students put up four wind turbines along the school's Murray Rd boundary in East Preston. VET and pre-apprenticeship electro-technology students designed and built the turbines to power classroom computers. "I think it's a school's prerogative and responsibility to be changing the way we think, and the way students think about energy collection, conservation and end use," Northland Technology Education Centre program coordinator Tim Beare said.The 200-watt turbines connect to power points in the electro-technology classroom and have been producing electricity for a month. Mr Beare said students next year would figure out what to do with excess energy from the turbines, which presently has to be dumped. It is hoped to use the energy to heat water. Mr Beare said the school had not received any complaints about noise from the turbines, which he said tended to be drowned out by traffic on Murray Rd.
Mr Beare's electro-technology classes have a strong sustainability bent. His students have also set up solar panels, and get regular "ear-bashings" on topics such as the carbon-footprint of the average teenage bedroom. He said there was no reason why schools could not rely completely on clean energy, but it would need "a huge injection of funds."
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