Wind Energy. What if There Isn t Any Wind? Are There any Drawbacks to Wind Power?

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1 Wind Energy Wind Energy is Renewable As long as the sun shines, there will be winds on the Earth. We will never run out of wind energy. It is a renewable energy source. It is also free since no one can own the sun or the air. We Can Capture the Wind Some places have more wind than others. Areas near the water usually have a lot of wind. Flat land and mountain passes are good places to catch the wind, too. Today we use big wind turbines to capture the wind. Sometimes, there are hundreds of wind turbines in one place. This is called a wind farm. Some wind turbines are as tall as 20-story buildings! Wind Can Make Electricity When the wind blows, it pushes against the blades of the wind turbines. The blades spin around. They turn a generator to make electricity. The wind turbines don t run all the time though. Sometimes the wind doesn t blow at all. Sometimes the wind blows too hard. Most wind turbines run between 65 and 90 percent of the time. Today, wind energy makes a small amount of the electricity we use in the United States. Most of the big wind farms are in Texas. There are plans for many more all over the country and the world. Rotor Hub Blade Tower Generator Wind is Clean Energy Wind is a clean energy source. Wind turbines don t burn fuel, so they don t pollute the air. Wind is a renewable energy source, and it is free. One wind turbine doesn t make much electricity. Most wind farms have many wind turbines. Wind farms take up a lot of land; most of the land they are on can still be farmed or used to graze animals. Wind is a safe, clean, renewable energy source for making electricity. What if There Isn t Any Wind? If there isn t any wind, no energy will be generated by the wind turbine. However, engineers do a lot of measurements and calculations to figure out the best areas to place the wind turbines. The wind won t be blowing all the time, but the important thing is how much the wind blows on average. Are There any Drawbacks to Wind Power? One major issue some people have with wind power is how the wind turbines hinders the view or landscape. Other drawbacks include the large blades killing birds and noise pollution from the turbine. The cost of wind power is also very high and not currently an affordable option for most. Credits/Sources: Student text is adapted from Ducksters.com and NEED.org Elementary Infobook Wind Turbine instruction sheet is adapted from JuniorInventors.com 2017 Agriculture in the Classroom Materials

2 Wind Turbine Design Challenge Student Journal Team Members:

3 Before Building TURBINE DESIGN CHALLENGE - RECORDER SHEET 1. What is your goal in redesigning your turbine? 2. What is your hypothesis? 3. What are some possible improvements you could make to try to reach your goal? 4. What improvement will you make to your design? 5. How will you determine if you are successful? After Building 6. Were you successful? 7. How do you know? 8. What did you do that worked well? 9. If you were to do this experiment again, what would you do differently? Page 1

4 WIND TURBINE INSTRUCTION SHEET 1. Gather required materials: a. Budget/Materials Sheet i. Necessary Materials 1. Pencil or dowel for the pedestal 2. Newspaper to form blades for turbine 3. Push pin for rotor ii. Necessary Tools: 1. Ruler 2. Compass 3. Scissors 4. Hole punch iii. Optional Tools 1. T ape b. Fan to simulate wind c. Graphic Organizer 2. Using your ruler, measure and draw an 8 inch square. 3. Cut out the square. 4. Using your ruler as a straight edge, draw an X through the square by intersecting the square corner to corner. 8 inches 5. Using your compass draw a 2 inch diamater circle by placing the point of the compass at the intersecting point of the lines forming the X. 8 inches 2 inches Page 2

5 WIND TURBINE INSTRUCTION SHEET CONTINUED 6. Cut the lines of the X up to the line of the circle. be careful not to cut through the circle line. 7. Using your hole punch, rotate around the blades and punch a hole in the corner of each blade as well as a hole at the intersecting point of the X lines. 8. Fold each blade so the hole punched in the corner matches with the center hole. At this point you need to be able to align and hold all corners so you can push the push pin through all of the holes at the same time. 9. Push the push pin into the eraser of the pencil or the dowel. 10. Test the turbine by placing it in front of the fan to see if it spins. *Adapted from: Lovejoy, J. Things to Make and Do. (2008). Make a Windmill. Retrieved July 10, 2017 from Page 3

6 BUDGET/MATERIAL SHEET Total Budget Available: $1,000 This money will be used for both the designing and the redesigning of your turbines. During the redesign process, you must re-rent the tools and purchase materials if needed. Materials Price Spent - initial Spent - redesign Spent - additional if needed newspaper - small $75 newspaper - medium $100 newspaper - large $125 pencil/dowel $150 tape $15 ruler $125 compass $25 scissors $125 hole punch $50 push pin $100 TOTAL SPENT: REFLECTION: Page 4