VANCOUVER, CALGARY, EDMONTON, REGINA, TORONTO, OTTAWA, HALIFAX — In October, the winds of clean renewable energy will be blowing across Canada as students and teachers build 150 wind turbines in conjunction with the launch on October 23 of the Pembina Institute's renewable energy website www.re-energy.ca.
Teachers and students are being challenged to double the number of turbines in Canada by January 2002.
In Toronto, teacher Barb Moran of Delta Alternative School with her class of 37 grade 7 students will build 12 wind turbines.
In Truro, just outside of Halifax, teacher Giny Hingley of Central Colchester Junior High School with her class of 30 students will build 10 wind turbines.
In Ottawa, teacher Cathy Ayotte of Fisher Park School with her class of 60 students will build 20 wind turbines. Erin Connelly of St Pius X High School and her 25 students will be building 6.
In Regina, teacher Carolyn Lehrer of Glen Elm School with her class of 30 students will build 10 wind turbines.
In Port Coquitlam, just outside of Vancouver, teacher Sean Sullivan of Castle Park Elementary School with his class of 27 students will build 9 wind turbines.
In Edmonton, teacher Henry Madsen of Donnan School with his class of 55 students will build 18 wind turbines.
In Springbank, just outside of Calgary, teacher Lilli Heinrichs of Springbank Middle School with her class of 153 students will build 51 wind turbines.
The students and their teachers would love to come down to the studio or have you come to their school on October 23 to let them show off their awesome turbines and tell you about the solutions to climate change and air quality issues. And, they would like to issue the challenge to students and teachers across the country to get involved.
As of September 2001, there were 300 active wind turbines in Canada, producing approximately 190 megawatts of electricity, providing for the needs of about 55,000 homes. The Pembina Institute has issued a challenge to students and teachers across the country to double the number of turbines in Canada by building classroom demonstration models. Already 450 students in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Nova Scotia are increasing the total number of turbines in Canada by 50%. They are learning and demonstrating that renewable energy, such as wind power, is a clean, reliable, and sustainable electricity source for Canada. They are building their own working model wind turbines with construction plans downloaded from the Pembina Institute's latest education resource: Re-energy.ca: A Renewable Energy Project Kit. It is a free Internet resource for students and teachers where they can download information about renewable energy and construction plans for renewable energy models, such as solar cars and ovens, water wheels, biogas generators, and wind turbines.
Says Dave Mussell, who authored the Re-energy resources and is an educator at the Pembina Institute, "Renewable energy is relevant now and will be even more important in the future. The topic links into curriculum, making it particularly useful for teachers. And learning about renewable energy can be very empowering for young people, because it presents a solution to many diverse environmental problems, including the daunting issue of climate change."
With Canada's vast land area and extensive coastlines, we are sitting on one of the largest green power resource bases in the world — equivalent to many times our current energy consumption. Energy from sustainably produced wind, solar, biomass, and low-impact hydroelectricity has many social, economic, and environmental benefits when compared with fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas.
Want to be a part of the renewable energy revolution? Join teachers and students across Canada to double the number of wind turbines by January 2002. Visit www.re-energy.ca and build, learn, teach renewable energy!
For more information contact:
Heidi Lasi
Media/Development Officer, Pembina Institute
Office: 613-235-6288 ext. 28
Email: heidil@pembina.org
Barb Moran, Teacher,
Delta Alternative School, Toronto, 416-393-9730
Giny Hingley, Teacher,
Central Colchester Junior High School, Truro, 902-896-5570
Cathy Ayotte, Teacher or
Janice McGuinnes, Teacher,
Fisher Park School, Ottawa, 613-729-5054
Erin Connelly, Teacher or
Veronique Pourbaix-Kant, Head of Science Department,
St Pius X High School, Ottawa, 613-225-8105
Jim Lehrer, Teacher,
Balfour Collegiate, Regina, 305-586-8151
Lilli Heinrichs, Teacher, or
Pat Worthington, Principal,
Springbank Middle School, Springbank, 403-242-4456
Henry Madsen, Teacher,
Donnan School, Edmonton, 780-466-8573
Sean Sullivan, Teacher,
Castle Park Elementary School, Port Coquitlam, 604-468-8620
teach?build?learn? visit re-energy.ca