scholarly journals Bridging Education and Engineering Students through a Wind Energy-Focused Community Engagement Project

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 9334
Author(s):  
Maija A. Benitz ◽  
Li-Ling Yang

Regional growth in offshore wind energy development, changes to the state’s K-12 science standards, and a desire to deepen undergraduate student learning coalesced to inspire an interdisciplinary community engagement project bridging university courses in engineering and education. The project consists of three main activities: a professional development event for local fourth grade teachers, five classroom lessons designed and taught by undergraduate engineering and education majors, and a final celebration event, all focused around the topics of wind energy and engineering design. This spring, the project was carried out for the third consecutive year, though each year’s implementation has been unique due to the timing of the onset of COVID-19. Analysis of responses from the Teaching Engineering Self-Efficacy Scale and an end-of-semester course survey demonstrate growth in student learning and transferrable skills from participating in the semester-long project. Additionally, exploration of students’ narrative work provides a richness to further understanding their growth and challenges they confronted. This interdisciplinary community engagement project will continue into future years, with improvements informed by the findings of this work, most notably with the hope of returning to a fully in-person delivery of lessons to fourth-graders.

2021 ◽  
pp. 014459872199226
Author(s):  
Yu-chi Tian ◽  
Lei kou ◽  
Yun-dong Han ◽  
Xiaodong Yang ◽  
Ting-ting Hou ◽  
...  

With resource crisis and environmental crisis increasingly grim, many countries turn the focus to pollution-free and renewable wind energy resources, which are mainly used for offshore wind power generation, seawater desalination and heating, etc., on the premise that the characteristics of resources are fully grasped. In this study, the evaluation of offshore wind energy in offshore waters in China, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of existing studies were overviewed from four aspects: the spatial-temporal characteristics of wind energy, wind energy classification, the short-term forecast of wind energy and the long-term projection of wind energy, according to the research content and the future considerations about wind energy evaluation (evaluation of wind energy on islands and reefs, the impact of wind energy development on human health) were envisaged, in the hope of providing a scientific basis for the site selection and business operation ‘or military applications’ here (after business operation), etc. of wind energy development, ‘aritime navigation against environmental construction,’ here and also contributing to the sustainable development and health of human beings.


2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 187-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D. Ferguson ◽  
Samantha L. Powers ◽  
Nate Trauntvein ◽  
Jeffrey B. Jacquet ◽  
Alan R. Graefe ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (22) ◽  
pp. 9352
Author(s):  
Andrea E. Copping ◽  
Alicia M. Gorton ◽  
Roel May ◽  
Finlay Bennet ◽  
Elise DeGeorge ◽  
...  

Acceptance of wind energy development is challenged by stakeholders’ concerns about potential effects on the environment, specifically on wildlife, such as birds, bats, and (for offshore wind) marine animals, and the habitats that support them. Communities near wind energy developments are also concerned with social and economic impacts, as well as impacts on aesthetics, historical sites, and recreation and tourism. Lack of a systematic, widely accepted, and balanced approach for measuring the potential damage to wildlife, habitats, and communities continues to leave wind developers, regulators, and other stakeholders in an uncertain position. This paper explores ecological risk-based management (RBM) in wind energy development for land-based and offshore wind installations. This paper provides a framework for the adaptation of ecosystem-based management to wind energy development and examines that framework through a series of case studies and best management practices for applying risk-based principles to wind energy. Ten case studies indicate that wind farm monitoring is often driven by regulatory requirements that may not be underpinned by scientific questions. While each case applies principles of adaptive management, there is room for improvement in applying scientific principles to the data collection and analysis. Challenges and constraints for wind farm development to meet RBM framework criteria include collecting sufficient baseline and monitoring data year-round, engaging stakeholder facilitators, and bringing together large and diverse scientific teams. The RBM framework approach may provide insights for improved siting and consenting/permitting processes for regulators and their advisors, particularly in those nations where wind energy is still in the early development stages on land or at sea.


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