By Chinese New Year, expect a towering, modern, giant wind turbine and some efficient, eco-friendly, movable solar cells on top of our D-block. It’s the newest addition to the vast array of state of the art technological resources TAS offers to its students.
According to Mr. Sinclair, the IT director of Taipei American School, “the goal for the wind solar research center, which is going to mounted on the fifth floor of the D block, adjacent to the bio research labs, is to provide students in science and social sciences a tool for collecting data about the impact and feasibility of leveraging renewable resources in this case.”
“Our goal isn’t to save money or make money for the school. It’s to teach students about wind and solar power,” said Mr. Panta, assistant superintendent for business and operations. “My biggest goal would be that students will be well informed about solar and wind technology.”
The new solar panels and wind turbine will only be powering the lights of the third and fourth floors of the D block. If there isn’t any wind or sun, the lights of the third and fourth floors will revert back to utilizing the regular grid power.
The project has been postponed numerous times due to the continuous redesign of the project. It has been “disappointing to all parties, because of how long it’s taking. The permitting based on the endless design changes and the complexities of the 5D rooftop are what’s hindering this.”
According to Mr Panta, US administration and science administration as well as a few teachers have already decided that there will be new curriculum that will incorporate the new equipment. The courses are likely to be introduced in the next school year and will be driven by the physics team, in particular US physics teacher, Mr Monge.