Introduction

As an industrialized nation we depend greatly upon electricity.
Think about it…do you know how much you are using at this moment?
Conventional electrical power plants are mostly fueled by coal, oil, or natural gas; the burning of fossil fuels to create electricity contributes to global warming and air pollution. Wind power does not require fuel, create pollution or consume scarce resources. Many believe the energy future belongs to wind as a clean, renewable energy, especially as global policies to reduce greenhouse gases are adopted.

The Question

The main question you will be asked to find an answer for is:

While offshore wind farms have already been operating in Europe for some time, the first offshore wind farms are just now being proposed for development in the United States. Despite the many ideal characteristics of wind power, other aspects of wind power can create environmental and community concerns. Should the United States develop offshore wind farms as part of the national energy policy?

You are a member of an independent team researching wind power as a renewable energy source that will help meet the United States’ energy needs and reduce global warming. Your team will examine the potential as well as the concerns for developing offshore wind farms in the United States.

Why are wind farms being proposed as part of the solution to the US energy needs? Who regulates the development of offshore wind farms? Who has concerns and objections? Can the needs and concerns of all groups be met?

You and your team members will research wind power in the United States and in other parts of the world. What can the United States learn from other countries who have developed offshore wind farms? Are some offshore sites more feasible for development?

Your team will combine their research to discuss what they have discovered and make a recommendation as a presentation to a public forum and write a persuasive letter to a member of Congress.

Background Information

Before becoming an expert on one aspect of this topic, it’s important to make sure that everyone on your WebQuest team understands the basics of wind power, offshore wind farms, renewable energy, and global warming.

Use the links below to answer the following general questions:
What causes wind? What is wind power or energy? How does wind power produce electricity? What is global warming? How is it caused? Why is wind power considered a clean and renewable energy source?

What is a wind farm? Where is wind energy produced in your home state? What are the advantages and disadvantages of wind power? Where are the first offshore wind farms being proposed for development in the US?

You will use a journal, either as a computer file saved to a disk on the computer or in notebook form, to record your answers and make notes of information and facts you might want to use later.

Make sure everyone on your team can answer all of the questions before moving into your individual roles.

US Dept. of Energy

Good basic primers on wind energy and offshore potential Good basic primers on wind energy and offshore potential the website the website Wind Turbine Work What is wind energy? What arWind Turbine Work What is wind ene does a wind tur

Danish Wind Energy

Has a great deal of background information and how wind energy works. Go to Wind with Miller and take the crash course. Look at the Guided Tour and the environment section/tlandscape and turbines.

Illustrated History of Wind Power Development

Has a great deal of background information

EPA Global Warming Site

Wind Power Report

overview of wind energy

PBS Bill Moyers program Wind Power NOW

general information about wind energy and global warming

CBS News Offshore Wind farms

global warming information and overview of proposed offshore wind farms in the United States

New York Times Article “Blowing in the Wind”

potential for wind energy to help prevent an energy crisis

American Wind Energy Association

wind energy projects in the US

American Wind Energy Association

wind energy and energy policy

Cape Wind Associates

company proposing to build first offshore wind farm in the US in Nantucket Sound

Massacgusetts Technology Collaborative

information gathered from conferences regarding the proposed development of a wind farm in Nantucket Sound

Individual Roles

Now that you have some overall background knowledge, it's time to return to the main question for this WebQuest. Questions this big and important are better answered when a few people are working on it at one time. Things work even better when a group of you decide to look at the question from different perspectives. This way team members can become experts on different aspects of the question and then come together to poll their learning. This is where team work pays off.

In this WebQuest you will be working as a team of four (or eight) students.
The team members will work as individuals (or pairs) to research one of the four stakeholder issues and present their findings to the team.

As you do your research you will gather information into your journal.
Remember to copy/paste the website URL. Keep in mind the rules defining plagarism. You may not borrow passages from books, or articles, or web sites without properly identifying and referencing them.

Decide who will explore the issues from one of the stakeholder groups listed below.

Take a look at the evaluation rubric for this WebQuest to have an understanding of how your work will be graded.

Governmental and global policy

The governmental stakeholders will examine the national renewable energy policy in the United States, global policies concerning climate change, and legislation and regulations regarding the citing of offshore wind farms.

Read through the questions for your stakeholder. More questions may arise as you research the resources provided and/or locate more resources to investigate.
Record information and facts in your journal, remembering to reference the URL, book or magazine source you use.

You may be able to interview someone representing your stakeholder group.

Write a summary essay, utilizing your journal entries to present the issues from your stakeholder interest. You may also use pictures, charts, facts, opinions etc. you have found to support your viewpoint and help convince your teammates that your issues are important and should be part of your team’s answer to the Big Question.

Use the links below to learn more about your role. You may want to use some of the resources mentioned in the background information as well as those listed in the other stakeholder groups.
Look for answers to the following questions:

What global policies have been made regarding global warming?
What is the Clean Air Act? What is the BREEZE Act?

What is the national energy policy toward renewable energy?
How does wind power fit into the national plan? How is the development of renewable energy supported by the US government and in other countries?

What is the real cost of energy production through conventional fuels and renewable methods?

Who has jurisdiction currently over the development of offshore wind farms? Is it the same in each state? Who owns the land?
Who regulates the development in the United States? What are the regulations in other countries?
How is the Army Corp of Engineers involved with the development of offshore wind farms?

Why would some congressmen be considering a national policy on wind farm development?

National Center for Policy Analysis Renewable Energy Debate

topics on US energy policy

BREEZE Act

information about the Breeze Act related to wind power introduced into Congress by Senatoe Grassley

Alliance to Save Energy

topics regarding US energy policy

American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy

national, regional, and state energy policy information

Sierra Club

articles about wind energy and global warming

Help Page: Strategy for Analyzing the Parts of the Topic

Environmental

The environmental stakeholders will look at issues related to global warming, renewable energy, environmental impact of current methods of electricity production compared to wind power and the ecological impact of wind farm development.

Instructions:

Read through the questions for your stakeholder. More questions may arise as you research the resources provided and/or locate more resources to investigate.
Record information and facts in your journal, remembering to reference the URL, book or magazine source you use.

You may be able to interview someone representing your stakeholder group.

Write a summary essay, utilizing your journal entries to present the issues from your stakeholder interest. You may also use pictures, charts, facts, opinions etc. you have found to support your viewpoint and help convince your teammates that your issues are important and should be part of your team’s answer to the Big Question.

Use the links below to learn more about your role. You may want to use some of the resources mentioned in the background information as well as those listed in the other stakeholder groups.
Look for answers to the following questions:


What is Global Warming? How does electrical production contribute to global warming?
What is renewable energy? How can wind power help reduce global warming?
How do current methods of electricity production affect the environment? What is the real cost of energy production?

Are there environmental benefits of wind power as an energy source?
Does offshore wind power cause pollution?
What are the environmental concerns regarding wind power? Offshore wind farms?

How have other countries reported environmental issues or concerns related to the development of offshore wind farms?
How do offshore wind farms affect marine life, birds or other animals or the ecology of the area of development? What have European researchers found regarding these concerns? Are there measures that could be taken to minimize effects?

Which do you think could have a greater environmental impact , an oil spill or a wind farm?
You might want to check out the recent oil spill in Buzzards Bay, MA of a tanker on its way to deliver oil to the electric plant.

Do all environmentalists agree on the benefits vs the impacts of wind energy?

Union of Concerned Citizens

information about global and US regarding renewable energy and global warming

American Electric Power

information from the electric industry regarding renewable energy

U.S. Global Change Research Information Office

Help Page: Strategy for Analyzing the People's Opinions on the Topic

Wind Industry

The wind industry stakeholders will look at issues related to the location, cost, technology and opponents to the citing of offshore wind farms in the United States.

Instructions:

Read through the questions for your stakeholder. More questions may arise as you research the resources provided and/or locate more resources to investigate.
Record information and facts in your journal, remembering to reference the URL, book or magazine source you use.

You may be able to interview someone representing your stakeholder group.

Write a summary essay, utilizing your journal entries to present the issues from your stakeholder interest. You may also use pictures, charts, facts, opinions etc. you have found to support your viewpoint and help convince your teammates that your issues are important and should be part of your team’s answer to the Big Question.

Use the links below to learn more about your role. You may want to use some of the resources mentioned in the background information as well as those listed in the other stakeholder groups.
Look for answers to the following questions:

How has offshore wind power been developed around the world? Choose at least two countries to examine. What can the US learn from their experience?

What technology has developed to make wind power more attractive as a power source?
How is wind power a clean, renewable energy source?

Do we know the real cost of electrical energy production? What factors are involved in figuring out the real price?
What are the economic factors affecting the development of wind energy?

Where are offshore wind farms being proposed for development in the United States? Why are these locations being considered?
What are the challenges of offshore wind farm development in the United States?

Who opposes the development of offshore wind farms?
What industries could be affected by offshore wind farms?

National Wind Coordinating Committee

wind energy in the US and globally

Wind Power Monthly

articles and current information about the wind industry

National Geographic

article about offshore wind farm in Ireland

British Wind Energy

European Wind Energy

Wind Industry

Canadian wind energy

Winergy

wind farm information

Conservation Law Foundation

wind power pros and cons and links to information

Upper Cape Codder

article abut development of an offshore wind farm in Texas

Help Page: Strategy for Analyzing how the Topic Functions, Works or Interacts

Economic, Consumer and Citizen

The economic, consumer and citizen stakeholder issues are related to the local impact of the development of offshore wind farms. In addition, these issues relate to how the development of renewable energy is supported by the government, the true cost of energy and the future availability of energy resources.

Instructions:

Read through the questions for your stakeholder. More questions may arise as you research the resources provided and/or locate more resources to investigate.
Record information and facts in your journal, remembering to reference the URL, book or magazine source you use.

You may be able to interview someone representing your stakeholder group.

Write a summary essay, utilizing your journal entries to present the issues from your stakeholder interest. You may also use pictures, charts, facts, opinions etc. you have found to support your viewpoint and help convince your teammates that your issues are important and should be part of your team’s answer to the Big Question.

Use the links below to learn more about your role. You may want to use some of the resources mentioned in the background information as well as those listed in the other stakeholder groups.

Look for answers to the following questions:

What is the environmental and economic cost of electrical energy generation? What is the cost of wind energy to produce electricity?
How has the technology of wind power brought about a change in the cost of energy production?

Who owns the ocean for development? Are the regulations the same in each state? How is that a concern?
Are some sites better suited for offshore wind farms?

How are local citizen groups receiving the development of offshore wind farms? What is meant by a NIMBY attitiude?

What industries are concerned about offshore wind farm development?
Will jobs be produced through offshore wind farm development? How could wind energy play a role in state’s economic future?

How can offshore wind farms be integrated into our society?
Can we learn from people in other areas of the world who have offshore wind farms?
How have citizens adapted who are living near land wind farms?

Are there aesthetic concerns? Can wind farms be viewed as having an uplifting and positive symbolism of stewardship or are they symbolic of “ugly technology”? What is the attitude in other countries where offshore wind farms have been developed?

Cape Cod Times Newspaper Collection on Proposed Wind Farm Development in Nantucket Sound

collectionof articles about the first proposed offshore wind farm in Nantucket Sound

Long Island Offshore Wind Energy

information about proposed offshore wind farm

Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound

group who opposes the development of the first offshore wind farm in Nantucket Sound

Help Page: Strategy for Analyzing the People's Opinions on the Topic

Group Synthesis

Congratulations! Your team is now full of expertise. Each member of the team has become an expert on the topic of offshore wind farms. You have learned a lot of facts and opinions and gathered a lot of information. Now is the time to use that information in a new and challenging way.

Instructions

Part 1
Each member (or pair) will present his or her summary essay to the team.

Use information, pictures, movies, facts, opinions, etc you explored to convince your teammates that your viewpoint is important and should be part of your team's answer to the Task / Quest(ion).

Part 2
Now,with you team members all gathered together, carefully read and try answering the main question for this WebQuest. See where you all agree and where differences arise.
Your team’s task is to take all of this information and build consensus in order to answer the Big Question, should the United States develop offshore wind farms as part of the national energy policy? There is a process guide to help with the task of building consensus. Your WebQuest team should write out an answer that everyone on the team can live with.

Part 3
Your team will produce a PowerPoint presentation, multi-media presentation,or some other creative means to convey your team's consensus decision.
Your team will make a presentation to a public forum on the development of offshore wind farms. The presentation must include information from all of the stakeholder issues to support your recommendation. There is a process guide on how to create persuasive arguments.

Part 4
Now that your team has reached its consensus about the development of offshore wind farms as part of the United States energy policy, each member of your team will write a letter to Congress from the group’s point of view.

You may choose to send more than one letter.

Here is a website for contacting the Congress . Find your representatives and how to contact them. If possible get both the email and the snail mail addresses.

You may also consider sending a letter to the editor of a newspaper, American Wind Energy Association, the Sierra Club, or one of the current organizations involved with the development of wind energy and offshore wind farms in the United States.

Contacting the Congress

how to locate your representatives in Congress

Process Guides

student guides for creating persusive arguments and consensus building

Real World Feedback:
        American Wind Energy Association

Conclusion

Congratulations on completing this WebQuest and gaining an understanding of the complexities involved with the development of alternative energy sources in the United States.

The problem you have been working on has required you to develop an understanding of the various issues involved with the development of offshore wind farms in the United States, the way they work, how they have been developed around the world, the impact they might have on the environment and their applications in real life.

By helping to solve this problem, you have had the opportunity to improve the following skills: thinking critically, conducting research, communicating clearly, taking responsibility, using technology (internet, PowerPoint), organizing information, making decisions, and working as part of a team.

Here are some questions to think about:

Do you think you will see offshore wind power developed during your lifetime?

How can you use your knowledge of wind power?

What is progress? Can capitalism and environmentalism co-exist?

created by Pamela Olson email: po.avalon2@verizon.net http://www.web-and-flow.com/members/polson/webquest/webquest.htm