OCR Text |
Show -N E W S- Spanish Fork B8 • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2008 Covering what matters most Answer to green is blowing in the wind Spanish Oaks Elementary School is the closest school near the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon. Each day while students were playing at recess, they witnessed the majestic windmills making their de"but. Students became curious and started asking their teachers questions, "When will they start spinning? How tall are they? Who gets the power?" The sixth grade teachers took this as an opportunity to ignite curiosity and apply the principle of seeking understanding about the world around them and avoiding being passive •learners. The students decided with their teachers who they could learn from. Joe Thomas, Spanish Fork City Mayor, and Dean Davis, an engineer of the development computerized research Center based at the mouth of the canyon, were invited to spend an hour each with the sixth grade students to answer their questions. These weren't ordinary questions. Students spent the weekend researching about alternate energy sources so they could ask knowledge-based questions. A few students volunteered to interview various city and municipal employees to get their perspective of the wind farm and create this article. Here is the compilation of their work: "Does anyone not like the windmills? Well it's okay if you don't, that is why we have chocolate ice cream... because some people don't like vanilla." Mayor Joe Thomas said to the Spanish Oaks eighth graders. We are so excited! The windmills will be powered up and running by the end of May. Fun Facts By Rachel Bingham, Madie Kay, Austin Seamons and Bryson Van Tassell derful resource for our community. If we stacked pick-up trucks on top of each other, it would require 50 trucks to reach the top. If we stacked them upright so the front of the truck was vertical in the air, the trucks would pile 30 high. These windmills are wonderful and we believe everyone should appreciate them. Windmill Benefits for Spanish Fork By Ammon Stone, Kade Martin, Mikel Cressman, Kolton Remund, Sofia Hoffmann, Shaniya Jacobson, Danielle Lauder and Jessica Deleo. One of the many benefits of having the windfarm is that it will generate enough electricity to power one out of every five houses in Utah County. In fact, the wind mills will each produce 23 million watts of power each. Even though Utah County residents will not purchase the power, they will have first rights of refusal to purchase power in twenty years. Spanish Fork will not opt to buy the power because they can purchase it for almost half the price from Strawberry Power. Currently, Spanish Fork residents pay about 4.5 cents per kilowatt. Wasatch Wind will bill the windfarm power for about eight cents per kilowatt. Spanish Fork gets a great bargain for our power because we partially own part of a power plant in Wyoming. The windmills also help Nebo School District because of the taxes. Some of the tax money from the windmills also goes to Spanish Fork City, Utah County and the T.E.C. The tax money generated can build roads, construct parks or build new schools. Another benefit is that the windmills will create a landmark for our beautiful city. Like the Golden Gate Bridge is for San Francisco, the windmills will be our landmark. Have you ever wondered about the facts of the windmills? Well, "one out of five homes in Utah County could be powered Carbon Footprint Benefits by those nine windmills in the mouth of Curtis Blair, Ian Scott, and Finn Rose Spanish Fork Canyon." The windmills cost $23,000,000 each. The windmill will create no carbon Wow! The total would be $207,000,000 footprint. You might ask, "What is a carbecause we have nine of them. bon footprint?" Well, a carbon footprint is a The tips of the windmills are going to be measure of the force our activities that have cruising 170 mph. It might not be looking an impact on the environment in terms of like it is going fast... but it is. The beautiful the amount of greenhouse gases we proWindmills are going to be fired up one by duce. It is measured in units of carbon dioxide. Every time you turn on a light, TV, one during the month of May. The windmills can be seen almost any- computer or anything electronic, you are where in the south half of Utah Valley. trapping heat under the atmosphere. It is These windmills are the first urban wind always a good idea to use less power and farm west of the Mississippi and the second turn off your electronics when you are not urban farm in the USA. One blade is 147 using them. feet. If put together, the diameter would be 350 feet.,Every twenty years the blades Wind Power vs. Nuclear Power will be changed. Kendall Barlow There was a blade with a flaw in it, so Mayor Thomas wants to give it to the city Why didn't Spanish Fork build a nucleto make it into art. Hopefully they will give ar power plant? What are the differences? it to us. Wind power is the fastest growing energy In addition, these windmills are a won- in the world. Around the world it has grown Courtesy photo GREEN: Pictured left to right, top rowt are sixth graders Austin Seamons, Curtis Blair and Taylor Dunn. Middle row are Brynn Shaw, Dani Lauder, Maddie Kay, Rachel Bingham, Shanyia Jacobson, Jessica Deleo, Kaycee Chesnut, Julie Crandall, Kendal Barlow, Finn Rose and Ian Scott. The windfarm can be seen in the background. 29 percent over the past ten years. During that time, the amount of wind energy has increased from 5,000 mega watts to 60,000 mega watts. By 2010, people believe that wind energy production will double. The newer windmills are gigantic. They have blades that are 90 meters long and when placed top of an 80 or 105 meter tower they become enormous.These windmills cost about anywhere from $3.6 million to $23 million each. The windmills at our Spanish Fork Windfarm are valued at $23 million each. Compare this to the price of nuclear energy. To get a situation where 20 percent of electricity was nuclear power would have to have the construction of at least five nuclear power plants, each with the amount of around 1,000-1,500 MW. These reactors would cost between $1,500 and $2,000 per kilowatt to run, and between $11.25-$ 15 billion in all. Obviously, nuclear power is more expensive. Once they are built, the plants require fuel rods (the price just keeps on rising) and these must be made at a different destination, which would cost more than $500 million. Nuclear power has more operational and maintenance costs compared to wind power, and nuclear power stations take longer to run (7-10 years) than wind turbines (3-6jnonths). More carbon dioxide is emitted in the construction of a nuclear power plant and in the making of fuel rods. How Powerful is the Wind at Spanish Fork Canyon? Brynn Shaw, Kaycee Chesnut and Julie Crandall Wind power can be divided into separate classes. "In a class seven, you would be worried about your car door falling off!" said Dean Davis. Dean is the operator and engineer of all the little windmills near the canyon of Spanish Fork. He measures and compiles data in Spanish Fork because it is one of the best wind resources in the country. About four hundred little windmills that he studies would be needed to generate the power of one of the new big windmills. Spanish Fork Canyon wind is rated about a class six. The capacity of wind is expected to be approximately 70 percent which is amazing considering that the best records recorded are in Cheyenne, Wyo., which is 60 percent of capacity. The windmills would be 100 percent if the wind was constant 24 hours per day, but it's not. It blows generally between 11 p.m. and 10 a.m. These windmills are amazing. The, windmills can produce 2.1 million watts of electricity, which can light 21,000 light bulbs. The windmills are huge and must be separated by 115 feet from each other so not to damage each other with their blades. With more wind, the tips of the blades push backward; they can be pushed extremely far, just not far enough to break. Lightning can damage the windmill, so a huge cable wire absorbs the electricity and sends it into the ground. We should all be thankful for these windmills; they produce more energy and less pollution and we are needing more and more electricity each day. These windmills are a great thing and are also beautiful. Brockbank takes top spots at Hershey Track Brockbank Elementary students did very well this year in the each of the Hershey track meets with several students placing in the top spots and receiving certificates. Third grade winners are Wyatt Baum, fifth place in the 50 meter dash; Samantha Jensen, third place in the 50 meter dash and fifth place in the 100 meter run; Briggs Newman, third place in the 400 meter run; Mark Rawle, third place in the 50 meter run, fourth place in the 100 meter run, and third place for the standing long jump (6'l");McKell Stone, fourth "place in both the 50 meter dash and the 100 meter run. Fourth grade winners are Kaylee Hudson, second place in the 100 meter run and third place in the 400 meter run; Brianna Perkins, Haylie Smith, Kaylee Hudson, and Elise Wilson placed second in the girl's team 4x100 meter relay. Fifth grade winners are NaTeisha Ewin, fourth place in the 400 meter run; Ryan Golish, first place in the softball throw (174'9");KieraHiatt, first place in the 800 meter run; Maya McKinney, sixth place in the 100 meter run, third place in the 200 meter run, and third place in the standing long jump (6'6 1/2"); Jared Nelson, third place in both the 100 meter and 200 meter runs; Peyton Pace, third place standing long jump (6'9"); Danielle Perkins, first place in both the 100 me- ter and 200 meter runs and also first place in the softball throw (164'); Nicholas Roberts, first place in both the 100 meter and 200 meter runs and also first place in the standing long jump (7'6"); Shelby Shepherd, fifth place in the 100 meter run. The fifth grade did very well in the 4x100 relays with both boys and girls teams placing. The boy's team took first place and included Nicholas Roberts, Peyton Pace, Jared Nelson, and Caden Hermansen; the girl's team took third place and included Danielle Perkins, Shelby Shepherd, Alexandra Loreen, and Skylee Forbes. Sixth grade winners are Branson Ashworth, sixth place in the 100 meter run and first place in the 400 meter run; Dahlan Cluff, fifth place in the 100 meter run; Jared Hudson, first place in the 800 meter run; Macady Jorgensen, third place in the 400 meter run and first place in the stand- ing long jump (7'3/4"); McKenzi Kofoed, fourth place in the 100 meter run; Brock Nelson, second place in the softball throw (186'); Emily Wilson, second place in the standing long jump (6'7"); sixth grade girls placed first in the 4x100 team relay, runners included Macady Jorgensen, McKenzi Kofoed, Emily Wilson, and Madelyn Money. Congratulations to all of these students and for all the students that participated! Courtesy photos TRACK CHAMPS: Pictured are, left to right, front row, Madelyn Money, Wyatt Baum, Brianna Perkins, Elise Wilson, and Samantha Jensen. Middle row, Jared Hudson, Dahlan Cluff, Caden Hermansen, McKenzi Kofoed, Peyton Pace and Maya McKinney. Top row, Emily Wilson, NaTeisha Ewin, Kiera Hiatt, Shelby Shepherd, Danielle Perkins, Alexandra Loreen and Macady Jorgensen. SPEEDY BRONCOS: Pictured are, left to right, Branson Ashworth, Nicholas Roberts, Skylee Forbes, Briggs Newman, Haylie Smith, Mark Rawle and McKell Stone. Absent from photo is Brock Nelson, Jared Nelson, Ryan Golish and Kaylee Hudson. |