Part 1:

Dear Justin Trudeau,

Hi, my name is Jazmine Dibblee I am currently in grade 9 going to Riverside Secondary School in Port Coquitlam, BC. In school, I recently have been learning about climate change and how our world is being affected. I have been researching how we can find new and more economical ways to produce energy.

 

By doing some research I believe tidal power stations are a great way to produce energy along the coastlines of Canada. The reason why we can only install tidal plants on coastlines is that they usually experience multiple high or low tides daily. However, we must assure the water level is at least 5 m high to produce enough electricity.

Now, just in case you didn’t know tidal power is very easy to install and it is renewable with no greenhouse gas emission and a low environmental impact. Tidal energy is a very predictable energy source compared to other renewables which can be very unpredictable.

There are 3 main types of tidal power stations, Tidal Barrages which is the most efficient is a dam that uses the potential energy generated by the high and low tides this turns the turbine. However, tidal fences and tidal turbines are the most common tidal technologies, tidal Fences are turbines that operate like giant turbines and tidal turbines are like underwater wind turbines. Turbine Fences and Turbines produce energy when the mechanical energy turns the turbines which are connected to a generator.

 

The first tidal power station was built on the Rance Estuary in Brittany, France on November 26, 1966. In Canada, we currently have one tidal power station in the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia, their geography and lack of having a major river system keeps it from becoming their main source. However, if we install even just a few stations around Canada I believe we can help our economy and burn less fossil fuel.

 

 

Thank you for taking the time to read my letter, I hope you consider using tidal power stations. This was so much fun to learn about and I hope you learned soothing knew as well as I did too.

– Jazmine Dibblee

 

1. What questions did you need to research in order to research your topic?

 

• Where do we already use tidal power?
• What other places could use tidal power instead of other power sources?
• How much water is needed?
• What are the Tidal technologies?
• Why did they decide to use tides when air seems like a better choice?
• What are some of the perps for using tidal technologies?
• How is different than regular energy sources?
• How did we discover tidal energy?
• Where/when was the first Tidal machine situated?

2. What new or familiar digital tools did you try to use as you worked through this project?

I did my research by using videos, websites and blogs, I didn’t use any new digital tools.

3. What was the process you used to investigate the topic?

I started my research by researching different ways to produce energy, then I narrowed it down to the one that interested me the most which were tidal power. The next thing I did was find a video to watch to see the basics of how a tidal power station works, I then took some basic notes to answer the questions I asked. The final thing was to put it all together to make the letter to Justin Trudeau. I then used worldbook and gale to find more information as well as using national geographic to help.

 

4. How did you verify and cite the information you found?

I made sure the website I used written by someone who has been educated on tidal power or something to do with tidal power. I made sure other sources I used had similar information to assure they were correct. To cite my information, I used citationmachine MLA form.

 

5. How did the process of completing things challenge go? What could you have done better?

I believe my process to complete this challenge went great, I enjoyed learning new ways we can produce energy to be more economical. I believe the process of completing this challenge went well, I have learned how to research assignments now by asking myself questions than answering them. I could have done better at finding websites with the information I need instead of wasting my time reading websites that didn’t have the exact information I needed.

 

“Hydro-Electricity in Nova Scotia.” Hydro-Electricity in Nova Scotia | Department of Energy and Mines, https://energy.novascotia.ca/renewables/hydro-electricity.

“Water Energy.” Alternative Energy, edited by Neil Schlager and Jayne Weisblatt, vol. 3: Water Energy, Wind Energy, Energy Conservation and Efficiency, Possible Future Energy Sources, UXL, 2006, pp. 261-303. Gale Ebooks, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3451200033/GVRL?u=43riss&sid=GVRL&xid=9b2301dc. Accessed 8 Dec. 2019.

National Geographic Society. “First Tidal Power Station Opens.” National Geographic Society, 20 Nov. 2013, https://www.nationalgeographic.org/thisday/nov26/first-tidal-power-station-opens/.