Workshop educates on wielding wind

A wind turbine building workshop took place during midterm break in the Design and Technology Education labs of the Burkheiser Building. Workshop participants met from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. daily.

During the workshop, participants received theoretical knowledge in addition to gaining practical skills of building wind-powered chargers. They further learned about electricity, and its role in basic wind turbine theory. They studied how wind towers work as well as the ideal design of the towers. In addition, they received hands-on experience in building wind turbines. Training was conducted by four specialists of Fort Collins, Colo., invited by Mark Stevens and Lisa Gould, partners in “WindFarmer Power and Light” initiative of Chadron.

Dr. Kevin Miller, associate professor in the department of applied sciences, said 14 people attended the workshop. The participants came from both near and far, with some travelling from as far as Omaha and South Dakota to attend. The students were people of different ages and different backgrounds, including retired citizens, college students, teachers, and businessmen, all spanning an age group of individuals from age 21 up to 60 years old.

The participants were interested in producing energy by using wind. Their goal was to learn to create wind systems of their own in the future.

“We began with raw materials: steel, wood, electrical wire, and plastic resin, – and from that we built three turbines in a week,” Miller said.

University of Nebraska–Lincoln bought the tallest tower, which was 20 feet for $1,400. The middle tower went to CSC for $1,000. The smallest tower, which was three feet, went to Fort Collins, Colo.

The future plan, Miller said, is to have CSC students build another tower, and, if approved by the CSC president, to put it on campus and experiment with it.