Navajo Nation schools host wind power turbines

December 17, 2012

Three new wind turbines spin outside the Leupp Schools on the Navajo Nation. On the roof are enough solar panels to generate 10 kilowatts of electricity to help power the school while stimulating classroom learning.

Karin Wadsack of the Arizona Wind for Schools program will help introduce students and teachers to wind and solar energy, while helping to overcome resistance to renewable energy in the surrounding community.

"The high school students, we did a lab where they went around campus and measured the wind speed. They built the anemometer and they measured the wind speed and did a mapping. And then the younger students also built anemometers and we worked with them in the classroom," Wadsack said.

The Leupp Schools are among eight Native American schools that are using money from a settlement agreement between the Grand Canyon Trust and the utilities that own the coal-fired Springerville Generating Station.