Physics Applications

In this physics lab, we were able to determine the number of turbines, the electricity produced, and the number of houses that will be supported by the turbines. A total of 31 turbines were calculated to support a community like North Heaven with electricity. A total of 9865750 KWH per year will be produced on Nose Hill. A single utility scale turbine can prevent the emission of 5000 tons of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere each year. If areas like Nose Hill across Canada had windmills installed, it will greatly reduce the greenhouse gas emissions produced. This will hopefully help us achieve our goals in the Kyoto Accord, such as reducing emissions of greenhouse gas by an average of 5.2% below 1900 levels by 2012.

Design Studies Discussion:

Windmill designs are important to industry regarding the environment and the energy that may be produced due to the type of windmills that could be installed on Nose Hill Park. Downwind turbines seem best for the Nose Hill conditions since they do not use extra energy to power the yaw drive that upwind turbines have, therefore this makes downwind turbines more efficient. Medium sized turbines have been decided since large turbines need a strong electrical grid for the electricity to be handled.Smaller turbines may also have another advantage to carry and allow for easier instalments. Nose Hill is not a very large area, and therefore large instalments of wind turbines may not be the best idea because they require more space overall. The radius of the wind turbines on the design area has been considered, and has been decided upon based on the diagram below. The radius is to be 40 meters.

Biological and Environmental Discussion:

Wind power is definitely appropriate for development on nose hill because it does not leave any harmful emissions, produces clean and renewable energy, does not involve mining or drilling, doesn’t cause global warming, produces energy efficiently, takes small part of land, and have low level of noise pollution. Constructing a wind farm on nose hill will not negatively affect its environment significantly and will allow for the wild animals to continue living on nose hill after it is constructed. In addition, it will still be available for recreational activities such as biking. A Calgarian produces an average of 24 tons of green house emissions per year. Hence, it is absolutely necessary that a sustainable energy is developed, it is evident that wind power is indeed the power source that is environmentally suitable for our community.