Developer of new wind turbine says
technology could be breakthrough
Professor of energy economics also says global warming is unproven
Bessie Wetzell Newspaper L.brary
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403
By David Sykes
A professor at East
ern Oregon University, who
is also the director o f a
company developing a new
type of wind energy turbine,
told the Heppner Chamber
HEPPNER
5(K
azette
imes
VOL. 130
NO. 22
12 Pages
Wednesday, June 1,2011
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Heppner High School baseball team loses out
in state semi finals to Portland Christian 11-2
HHS baseball team (left to right): back-coach Jim Kindle, Ryan Bennett, Brett
Harrison, Ian Murray, Jared Hedman, Justin Gutierrez, Daimon Walker, Cody
Orr, Eric Chick, coach Scott Coe; front-Cameron Day, Justin Pranger, Shane
Smith, Austin Holmes, Drew Brannon, Willie Gentry, Alex Fuentes.
versus Portland Christian.
T h e H e p p n e r They lost 11-2.
roe, 16-13 to advance to the
High School baseball team
The boys won their semifinals.
played in the semi-finals at May 27 game against Mon-
home on Tuesday, May 31,
HHS
graduation
June 4
The Heppner High
School graduation ceremo
nies will take place on Sat
urday, June 4, beginning at
2 p.m. in the high school
gym.
B a c c a la u re a te
services are planned for
Wednesday, June 1, at 6
p.m. at St. Patrick Catholic
Church in Heppner.
The HHS junior/
senior breakfast will be
held on Thursday, June 2,
at 7 a.m.
HHS s e n io r s ’
photos are featured in this
week’s Gazette-Times.
Bellamy
fundraiser to
be held at
Bucknum’s
A fundraiser for
Travis Bellamy will be held
at Bucknum ’s Tavern in
Heppner on June 4.
Live entertainment
for the event will include
Simplistic, Matt Borden,
The Dakota Brown Band
and “ Dog B ite” Harris.
The music will continue
all night; other features
include beer specials and a
raffle. Raffle items are still
needed; anyone interested
in donating an item can
drop it off at Bucknum’s.
There will be a $5
cover charge for the eve
ning. The cover charge
and raffle money will go to
help Travis Bellamy with
medical and other expenses
following his car accident
last month.
Throw
that boot
The Celebrate Heppner version of the Welly Toss
will begin with team competition at 10:30 a.m. Friday,
June 10. The toss will be at its usual location on West Wil
low Street between Murray’s and the Artisan Village.
Merchants and agencies
are forming teams, and the com
petition will be hard fought or,
in this case, thrown. The team
championship throw off will oc
cur at 2 p.m. Prizes will then be
awarded and the winning team's
name will be added to the Welly
Toss Boot Award on display at
City Hall.
Individual competition
for kids, teens and adults begins
at noon and will continue until
1:30 p.m.
Two changes in individ
ual competition are also debuting
on the June 10. Adult and teen The Golden Boot
prizes will be awarded based on length of the contestant’s
throw. For example, an adult female throw ing 50 feet or
more will win a prize.
Also, kids aged two to six will throw at the same
location but further down the street. Each child will win
a prize. Boots were flying during the St. Pat’s competi
tion, and the coordinators decided it would be safer if the
younger kids were a bit removed from flying leather.
Forms have been distributed to merchants and
agencies to register their players. The deadline to turn in
forms is June 8. Teams may schedule a specific time to
compete by calling Shirlee at 541-676-5554.
Farmers market to
begin season
An organizational meeting for the upcoming
Willow Creek Farmers Market’s fourth season has been
planned for Thursday, June 9, at Heppner City Hall.
The market begins Friday, June 24, at the Hep
pner City Park and will continue on Fridays from 10 a.m.
to 3 p.m. through October 7.
“All interested crafters, green thumbs and other
like-minded people” are invited to attend. Agenda items
will include location, day, times and other related topics.
Ideas are welcome.
Anyone who would like to showcase their musi
cal talents at the farmer's market is invited to just show
up at the market during scheduled hours.
Wyden to hold Heppner town hall
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden will host his annual town hall
meeting in Morrow County on June 3. The town hall
meeting will be held at Heppner City Hall at 5 p.m. on
Friday, June 3. This will be Wyden’s 592nd statewide
town hall.
of Commerce last week that
his company’s new device
is so revolutionary it could
be placed on top of a city
building to produce elec
tricity from the wind.
Pete Diffenderfer,
Ph.D., said the new turbine
is more efficient at produc
ing electricity from wind
than the giant-turbines going
up around the country, and
could be a breakthrough in
the way America produces
power.
Diffenderfer also
has studied data and reports
and has concluded that
global warming has not
been proven.
“I am stating an
opinion, but that opinion is
based on fact. And global
warming is not a fact,” Dif
fenderfer said.
He said about one
half of the testing stations
that monitor global tem
peratures have been “com
promised,” or are not giving
accurate readings because
they have been placed near
buildings and other man
made, built-up areas, and
these stations are giving off
false high readings. He said
the United States govern
ment should not be forcing
people to use alternative
energies based on faulty
global warming science.
“I don’t think our
carbon footprint is what
people say it is. There is
not a consensus among
scientists. We have had
ferociously cold winters in
North America and people
will tell you that it came
from global warming. What
sense does that make?
“There has always
been climate change and
we do need to move off of
non-renewable energy, but
we need to do it in a way
that makes sense,” D if
fenderfer said. “We are 85
percent dependent on fossil
fuels and we can’t just walk
away from that.”
He said the US
does not have a long-range
energy policy, and “We
desperately need one.”
Diffenderfer, who
is also a director of Zephyr
International, Inc., a wind
energy research and devel
opment company based in
The Dalles, said energy is
the most important element
driving the economy.
“The quality o f
life of Americans is going
down. It is getting worse,”
he said.
He related how he
has four children and owns
an SUV.
“It cost me $58 to
fill half the tank. We are
hurting. Energy is getting
so expensive, our quality
of life is going down and
we are throwing people
lone
graduation
is June 3
Pete Diffenderfer, Ph.D. and associate professor of business
at Eastern Oregon University told the Heppner Chamber of
Commerce last week that the country is in desperate need of
a long-range energy policy. -Photo by David Sykes
under the bus,” he said.
“The government wants to
push us into other energy
sources. We are like lem
mings running off the cliff
and hoping we don’t hit the
bottom.”
He said the gov
ernment’s efforts to force
people to use alternative
energy and devices like flo-
rescent light bulbs were just
tactics and not an overall
strategy.
“I w ould like to
change the paradigm and
have one based on fact.” He
said the country has huge
amounts of energy avail
able right within our own
borders, which means there
is no reason we need to im
port oil from non-reliable
sources in other countries.
“ How many w ars have
been fought over natural
resources?” he points out.
Diffenderfer also
said our energy policy must
make sense economically.
“Our country is $14 tril
lion in debt and we can’t
keep piling on the debt.
This great country is go
ing to collapse, and we
need to use the energy we
have so our quality of life
doesn’t plunge,” he says.
He added that there are only
five countries in the world
that are not “underwater”
financially.
Back to his new
impulse wind turbine, Dif
fenderfer said it could be
as small as a large swamp
cooler and could be placed
on top of a building to pro
vide power for that home or
office. He said current wind
projects are 30 percent paid
for by the government; the
technology he is working
on would be market driven
and not require subsidies to
Pay for il- He said Zephyr,
in which he became in
volved as an investor four
years ago, is currently look
ing for a larger company to
buy them out, a company
large enough to market and
sell the product effectively.
He did not have pictures of
the prototype turbine, as he
said the information is still
proprietary.
Diffenderfer also
said the grid system to de
liver electricity is so large
now that it loses about 20
to 30 percent of the power
sent over it. With large wind
towers, more grid is being
built to carry the electricity.
However, with his turbine,
each building could have
its own unit, reducing the
amount of grid necessary.
In response to a question, he
did acknowledge that stor
age is currently a problem
that will eventually have
to be solved for any type
of wind-generating system
to work.
He described the
turbine as having a flywheel
and rotor that will spin, as
well as an exhaust port.
He said that it will handle
increases in wind speed and
wind gusts better than the
traditional large turbines.
“ When the wind
speed doubles, you will get
eight times the power from
this,” he said.
“Traditional wind
mills have been around for
1,000 years and the gain
in energy output has been
m arginal,” D iffenderfer
said. “ Besides that, they
(large towers) will not last
for more than 20 years. We
hope to get wind energy to
the point where it does not
need to be subsidized by the
government.”
WCCC to hold junior golf clinic
Willow Creek Country Club in Heppner will
hold a junior golf clinic June 13,14 and 15 and June 20,
22 and 23. The golf clinic is open to any student aged
seven to 16.
The beginners’ clinics will be from 2 to 3 p.m.
June 13, 14 and 15, and from 9 to 10 a.m. June 20, 22
and 23.
Intermediate clinics will be held June 13,14 and
15 from 3:30 to 5 p.m. and June 20,22 and 23 from 10:30
a.m. till noon.
The golf clinics cost $25, payable to Willow
Creek Country Club. Interested participants are asked to
register early. Registration forms available at WCCC, or
contact Greg Grant a't 541-676-5257 for details.
T he lo n e H igh
School com m encem ent
ceremonies will be held on
Friday, June 3, at 7 p.m. in
the high school gym.
The b accalau re
ate service is planned for
Wednesday, June 1, at 7
p.m. at the lone Community
Church.
The IHS seniors’
The men of St. William’s and St. Patrick’s Cat]
photos are featured in the
lie
Churches
will hold their monthly First Friday meeting
Gazette-Times graduation
on
June
3
at
6:45
a.m. at the parish office in Heppner. Mass
page in this week’s news
will
follow
at
7:30
a.m. All men are welcome to attend.
paper.
Catholic men to hold meetin
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