Educators go on a super energy tour around Utah

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The Western Energy Training Center and the National Energy Foundation facilitated a three-day energy super tour for a second year on July 30-Aug. 1. A composite of K-12 educators from Utah toured strategic energy producing resource facilities throughout the state. The tour focused on several energy-rich areas of Utah. As many as 60 educators attend the tour, including technology and science teachers, workbased learning specialists and administrators.
The participants become familiar with a variety of energy topics like: geothermal energy (Blundell Power Plant), methane generated electricity (Salt Lake Landfill), nuclear energy (Energy Solutions, Inc.), oil drilling (Wolverine Oil-Salina), mining (Skyline-Arch Western), power generation (Intermountain Power Plant-Delta), power distribution (Intermountain Electronics-Price) clean coke manufacturing (Terra Systems-WETC) Wind (Edison Mission Energy- Spanish Fork) and energy transportation (Savage Services Corporation Coal Terminal-Price). These are just a few.
WETC and NEF emphasize that the most significant outcome for the energy super tour is to develop a universal sense of energy literacy in Utah. The hope is that after seeing the variety of energy-producing methods and wide range of techniques used, the educators will take what they have learned and find ways to implement this new comprehensive information into their instructional activities.
The Western Energy Training Center is a resource for existing and prospective employees of the energy industry. With the center located in Eastern Utah, WETC helps to develop the skills and technical expertise needed for the 21st century and the growing demand for energy industry workers. NEF, a WETC partner, is a 30-year-old organization that is based in Salt Lake City and is associated with many big players in the energy industry.
School districts represented included: Alpine, Blain County, Idaho, Carbon, Davis, D#201, Idaho, Emery, Granite, Jordan, Juab, Morgan, Provo, Salt Lake, San Juan, Tooele, West Ottawa, Mich.
Teacher comments: I want to thank you for an exceptional educational experience. The trip was a huge success. I am a better educator, a better audiologist, because of the knowledge I gained from this course. Thank you also for the backpack and all the posters, CDs, DVDs and other resources. Your generosity adds to my enthusiasm to share the information I obtained with my students and other teachers. I enjoyed meeting other educators and learning about Utah’s diverse energy industries and about the genuine concern companies/employees have for the environment and improving their technologies. I learned a lot about the industry and gained material that I can use with my class. I gained a tremendous knowledge and appreciation of the energy resources we have in the state.Information provided by field experts. Traveling to the actual site to see first hand the technology. Very outstanding.