Team: 29
School: Tucumcari High
Area of Science: Engineering
Interim: Definition of the Problem:
Wind Turbines are a great way to reduce our carbon footprint. However, more and more wind turbines are creating pollution, producing more waste, and creating more problems than intended.
“As thousands of the blades outlive their useful life and give way to new, and often larger and more efficient replacements, the pristine twirling arms of the clean-energy economy smack headlong into the reality that nearly all the used-up blades end up buried in a landfill.†(Simpson)
“A social media post that was shared on Facebook nearly 2,000 times in early October 2020 claimed to bring attention and “open your eyes to the environmental issues with windmills†that had been “wasted and decommissioned.†Snopes readers asked our team to investigate the legitimacy of the Wyoming "wind turbine graveyard," which we found to be real and reported on by a number of credible publications in 2020.†(Dapcevich)
“Landfill operators thought the composite blades, cut in 40-foot or larger sections, could be readily crushed and compacted. ‘But blades are so strong — because they need to be strong to do their job — they just don't break,’ said Amie Davidson, an Iowa Department of Natural Resources solid waste supervisor. ‘Sometimes pieces fly off and damage equipment’ in the compacting process, she said. ‘Landfills are really struggling to manage them, and they just decide they can't accept them.’†(“With few recycling options, wind turbine blades head to Iowa landfillsâ€)
“It costs roughly $100,000 and $150,000 to move a fan blade from a port to a wind farm. …as blades get longer and heavier, they will require extra work and money to transport.â€(“How to Correctly Transport Wind Turbine Blades | Titan WWâ€)
Solution:
These blades are beginning to pose a clear problem that Team 29 plans to solve. Team 29 plans to make fencing out of wind turbine blades to prevent the pollution and damages these parts are causing. The main fencing option we are exploring in our current program is snow fencing. We hypothesize that these units could also be used to make other types of fencing, such as cattle panels.
Progress to Date:
The team has worked with professionals in the wind field in order to better understand the problem and what they are able to do in terms of working with these devices. The team has also worked with coding professionals to get the best prototype of code so they can better test their hypothesis. The site that Team 29 has used to code is Netlogo. In order to have success in this site the team has heavily referenced the Netlogo library. (file:///C:/Program%20Files/NetLogo%206.3.0/docs/index2.html)
Expected Results:
In our code, which focuses on snow fencing, we expect the viewer to be able to determine what the density of the snow is as well as the wind pattern. We also expect them to be able to visually see the results of what the snow fence will do. With the Supercomputing Challenge’s help, Team 29 hopes to make their vision a reality and not only help recycle but also help make roads safer and teach others about the wonderful world of coding.
Mentor: Thomas Evans
Team Members:
Sponsoring Teacher: Thomas Evans