October 2008 Indiana's Energy Union City High School makes energy conservation a priority

This time next year, Union City Community High School could potentially receive 100 percent of its electricity from a large wind turbine.

“That’s if everything goes well and as planned,” said John Zakelj, science teacher at Union City Community High School who was recently honored by the state for his leadership in alternative energy education. “We have a lot yet to do.”

Currently, the high school, which is part of Randolph Eastern School Corporation in Union City, is generating some electricity through a smaller solar and wind electric system. Although this system only produces less than one percent of the school’s electricity, it produces big opportunities to bring science, math, economics and environmental education skills together into one project.

“The first question the students always ask me is how much energy it produces,” said Zakelj. “Although it’s not a significant amount, the system gets students asking questions related to science and math. That’s what we want – to get kids interested and asking questions.”

And the students are interested. “It’s cool to see how the wind turbine conducts energy and it’s pretty interesting to learn about alternative energy,” said Adam Mills, senior. “I like alternative energy and have become very interested in it. We haven’t just learned about the solar panels and the windmill, but we’ve learned about, and done projects over, ethanol and other renewable resources.”

Fellow senior Ali Gelhaus echoed Mills’ excitement. “I didn’t know a whole lot about alternative energy until I took the environmental education course. Now, I love learning about it. It makes me feel good to know our school is doing something to help the environment.”

The solar and wind electric system at the high school is made up of eight solar panels that convert light energy from the sun into electricity and a 90-foot wind turbine that converts motion energy from the wind into electricity using a generator.

To monitor the incoming electricity, the system is hooked up to computers called “data loggers.” This component is what the students use to monitor the specific data.

“The current system is teaching students to use data,” said Zakelj. “They are also using graphs. Using these skills teaches them to predict how much the wind turbine should be producing and how much it is actually producing. There are so many areas of study this system falls under.”

Not only is it teaching math and science skills to high school students, but West Side Middle School students have also begun studying the system. Outside of math and science skills, the environmental education component is also a major part of this project. “The students are able to see the relationship between environmental factors and energy,” said Zakelj.

“This is a great way to learn,” said Mills. “It’s easier to understand how it works when you can see the windmill and see the solar panels instead of reading about them in a textbook. Working with this has shown me just how environmentally friendly this system is compared to using gasoline or coal.”

Although they already have a smaller wind turbine, Zakelj said this is not the end. “Our next step is working toward a large turbine that could potentially produce 100 percent of the school’s electricity.”

The efforts are not just limited to Union City Community High School, though. The wind turbine would hopefully produce enough electricity to power all Randolph Eastern Corporation Schools. The corporation is also reaching out to other school corporations in their area to help them learn how to harness carbon-free power as well.

“We are looking to partner with other area school corporations in our area to bring even more wind turbines here. Not only does it save money in the long run, but it cuts costs immediately if we would all build them at the same time,” said Zakelj, adding several educators across Indiana have already contacted him to inquire about starting wind and solar projects at their schools as well.

Randolph Eastern School Corporation has made “going green” a top priority. Not only are they working on conserving energy by using alternative energy sources, but the corporation owns Indiana’s first hybrid-electric school bus that has been in use since January.

“All these projects teach our students about renewable energy resources and the importance of sustaining our environment,” said Zakelj. “It also shows them that these resources do work.”

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Is your school already participating in green activities? We want to know about it. Please contact Lynelle Miller at lamiller@doe.in.gov to pass on your innovative classroom and project ideas as well as share photos.