WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) – Lieutenant Governor Barbara Lawton was on hand today to help the Wausau School District dedicate its new Renewable Energy Learning Center at a special Earth Day ceremony.
Joined by members of the Wausau school board, the Walter Alexander Foundation, and the staff who helped build the new wind turbine out in a school field, Lawton told the crowd that Gaylord Nelson would have been proud of this event, seeing how far Earth Day has come in his own state in just 40 years. She says smaller and more localized energy sources need to play a role in our renewable energy plans, and that this center is going to draw more interest and funds to the region. “Our children must be well informed, and lead the change to fight global warming.”
Dr. William Prehn from the Alexander Foundation said that when they offered the grant for the project to the district, that the point was not to reduce the school's tax levy. “The whole point was not to generate power, the point is the education of students into renewable energy sources and science.” Prehn says the Alexander Foundation wants the education for this project to help a Wausau student learn how to make the next big step in research, and solve our energy problems.
The Learning Center now includes the 100kW wind turbine, a smaller home sized model, and a tracking photovoltaic solar array. All the data collected by the installations will be used by the district and by programs across the state to learn how to further use renewable and green sources of energy in the future.
