TRAVERSE CITY -- Ideally, culinary arts students in Traverse City would convert their cooking waste into biodiesel.
They would turn over the renewable fuel to automotive students in the same building for use in internal combustion engines.
Students learning the construction trades would practice green building standards used today by professional contractors.
Soon, high school students who enroll at the Traverse Bay Area Career-Tech Center to gain work experience will find alternative energy components woven into their programs.
The center received $75,000 in state energy funds to install a number of power generators on its Traverse City campus, including wind turbines, weather monitors and biofuel processors.
A total of 15 such schools statewide, including one in Cadillac, will be funded. The schools can keep the equipment when the two-year grant ends.
Rather than create a new program specifically for renewable resources, Principal Jason Jeffrey said he wants to integrate the field into existing ones to prepare students for work in today's economy.
"If we don't keep our programs current, we're not doing any good for the students," Jeffrey said. "It's a great opportunity for us to expose our students to skills and knowledge they will need to be successful in the 21st century."
The idea started with Brion Dickens, who consults with Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker Schools in the Thumb region to write grants.
The goal, as he sees it, is to better train students by developing a statewide high school energy curriculum.
The fact that schools will own the generators at the end means they likely will be able to sustain their efforts, Dickens said.
"How are you going to have people trained to work in this field if you don't have any way to be trained?" he said. "We don't want the focus on just one renewable energy."
Schools will record and submit data from their projects, which could help residents understand the feasibility of alternative power sources in their communities, said John Holcomb, general manager of MasTech Wind in Manistee.
The company will supply 10 wind generators to grant recipients, including Traverse City. They stand 30 feet tall and have been produced locally since April.
"With any new technology, people don't know it, they don't understand it, and so it can be a little frightening," Holcomb said, adding that school locations are among the most visible. "At least they get that educational focus so they can decide, 'Is that something I see in my future?'"
