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Park City High School Students pay visit to energy conference

Frank Fisher, Of the Record staff

One way to walk the talk while attending a renewable energy conference is to walk to the conference.

That is what Park City High School teacher Tony Winterer and his 30-plus biology students did on Friday, Nov. 10, when they walked from their biology class to the Uinta Headwaters Renewable Energy Conference, held at the Park City Marriott.

"The future is theirs," said biology and environmental studies teacher Tony Winterer of his students. "I’d like them to know sooner than later that we’re destroying the environment."

The renewable energy conference brought in specialists from the Western United States to speak on their specialties, which included discussing local applications of the newer technologies.

Park City mayor Dana Williams spoke during the lunch break. "We are a community with an economy that is 100 percent based on weather," he said residents have an obligation to take care of the environment that has a major impact on that weather.

Some of the topics covered included wind energy, solar energy, geothermal energy ( which has been implemented as a heating and cooling source in three schools in the West Jordan School District) hydrogen technology, Biodiesel, 101: how to brew you own and improving energy efficiency on the farm.

Amy Edwards, a sophomore in Winterer’s biology class knows about farms. Her father owns a farm in Montana. "He has his own idea on things," she said. "Four generations of his family have done things a certain way, and he still wants to do it that same way."

Edwards thinks it would be hard for her to change the way he farms. "Maybe if I could tell him enough about what I have learned," she said with a fair amount of doubt in her voice. But she did say that he runs their tractor off of generator power sometimes.

"We’re destroying our mountains with air pollution, Omar Jimenez a sophomore in Winterer’s class said. "I want to hear what we need to do to prevent global warming."

Organizers of the Renewable Energy Conference were hoping for at least 75 attendees, but ended up with over 90. The students came to observe during one of the four sessions.

Morgan Espinoza, a sophomore in Winterer’s class learned from the conference that solar energy can be stored. She said Winterer is a really good teacher.

Winterer knows his students will eventually take over problems created by generations before them, and that the sooner they are willing to work with the alternative energies, the better off they will be.

"I tell my students, ‘you’re inheriting one hell of a mess from my daddy’s generation, and my generation.’" "This is science speaking."


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