UTSAV GANDHI

campus@le<hnewsul Dm

Wind turbine increases campus sustainability

Ey Utsav Gandhi
campus EDITOR

One ofthe most excrtrng eyerts to
haye occurred on campus durrng the sumr
mer, and definltely one ofthe most slgnlficam,
was the rnstallatron ofChlcago’s first research
focused wrnd turbrne at a nbbonrcuttlng cer
emony on Wednesday, luly 20 on Stuart Ereld
The small BkW turbrne rs a part of the m
Wrnd Energy Consortrum, a 09 mrllron, two
year research project managed by theunlverslr
ty’s Robert W Calyrn Center for Electrrcrty Inr
noyatron and funded by the US Department
of Energy (DOE) and pnyate partners The
consortrum rs workmg to help reduce the cost
ofwmd powersothat the natron may reach rts
target of 20% Wrnd Energy by 2030

Energy pnces, supply uncertarmles,
and enyrronmertal concerns are drryrng the
Unrted States to rethmk rts energy mrx and
deyelop dryerse sources of clean, renewable
energy The natron rs workmg toward generatr
mg more energy from domestrc resourcesi
energy that can be costreffectlve and replaced
or ”renewed" wrthout contrrbutrng to clrmate
change or major adyerse enyrronmental unr
pacts ln 2005, Presldem Eush emphasrzed the
natlon’s need for greater energy ethcrency and

 

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a more dryersrfred energy portfolro Thrs led
to a collaboratrye effort to explore a modeled
energy scenano rn whrch wrnd proyrdes 20%
ofUS electncrty by 2030 Publlshed m 2008,
the US Department of Energys “20% Wrnd
Energy by 2030" report outlrnes the projected
rmpacts of an rncrease rn wmd energy generar
tron Ahrgrerwmd enelgylevelhasthepotenr
tral to create Amencan Jobs, reduce fuel pnces
and stablllze electncrty rates, create an rncome
source forrural landowners, and loweralrpolr
lutron

The majority of academrc burldrngs
at llT are due to get solar arrays as part ofthe
proposed perfect power smart gnd The sub
statrons are almost complete, and thetest tur
brne and solar array haye been on top ofthe
plart forawhrle now Some students are rather
skeptrcal ofhow much power the campus can
harness wrth only one of these They’re also
cunous to see how a wrnd turbrne wrll attect
people smce rt rs an urban emlronmem The
Wlnd Turbrne Syndrome rs caused by ultnr
low frequency and m some caseshrglr frequenr
cy norseproduced by these turbrnes that cause
somepretty senoushealth rssues

The turblne stands on “T’s Stuart
Ereld at 31st and Fedenl Streets and rs one of
three turbrnes acqurred by the unryersrty for
research by the consortrum The llT Wlnd

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Consortrum also conducted a ribbonrcuttlng
ceremony for rts large 15 MW GE Turbrne
located on awrnd farm m Marserlles, lllmors,
managed by lnyenergy Thrs utllltyrgnde re
search turbme rs outfitted wrth hlg‘lrperfonnr
mg technology desrgned to rncrease the out
put and reduce wear and tear of components,
whrch wrll ultrmately rncreasethelrfespan and
performance ofthe structure

The technology rncludes an 1117
noyatrye set of addron rnstrumentatron and
analytrcal technrques that can detect emergr
mg wrnd turbrne gearbox and other mechanr
cal problems and a laser unrt that srts atop the
nacelle and measures the wmd m from ofthe
turbrne blades usrnglaser doppleryelocrmeter
technology The sensor enables the turbrne to
”dance" towards the wrnd to rncrease output
and mlnllnlze stress to components ln addlr
tron to these lnstrumems, llT has deyeloped
sophrstrcated phased array acoustrc sensors rn
orderto prnpornt acoustrc sources on the wmd
turbrne and deyelop norse reductron technolm
ges

The consortrum rs only one of the
projects managed by the HT Calyrn Center
for Electncrty lnnoyatron armed at pursurng
groundbreakmg work rnthe generatron, trans
mrssron, drstnbutron, management and conr
sumptron of electncrty

20% Wrnd Scenarro Wrnd Energy
Provldes 20% ofu S Electncrty Needs by 2030

Key lssues to Biamlne

, Does the natron haye sufficlent
wrnd energy resources?

, what are the wrnd technology rer
qulremems7

, Does sufficlent manufacturrng car
pabrlrtyexrst?

~What are some ofthekey unpacts?

, Can the electnc network accomr
modate 213%wlnd?

, what are the enyrromnental unr
pacts?

~Isthescenanofeaslble7
Wlnd ys Tradrtronal Electrrcrty Ceneratron

, Emrssrons of mercury or other
heayy metals rnto the arr

, Emrssrons assocrated wrth extract
mg and transportrng

, Lake and streambed acldlficatlon
from acrd rarn or mrnmg

, Water consumptron assocrated
wrth mrnrng or electncrty

, Productlon oftoxrc solrd wastes,
ash, orslurry

. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emrssrons

(Acknowledgements to UT Today
and the US Department of Energys “20%
Wrnd Energy by 2030’1publrshedluly 2008)

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URJiit accepting undergrad research submissions

Ey Chris Robens
TECHNEWS WRITER

Do you want to rmproye frel cell
technology? Are you mterested rn lean-k
mg how to preyent cancer cells from moymg
Lhroug‘loutthebody?Haveyoueverwandered
througr theMTCC and wondered, "What was
thsarchltectthlnkmg?"

Ey gettrng myolyed rn undergndur
ate research at UT, not only wrll you be able
to answer those (and many other) questlons,
you now also haye the opportunrty to share
your work wrth the m communrty througr
the newlyrfonned Undergraduate Research
lournal URIllt URIllt rs currently acceptrng
submrssrons for rts 20ll rssue The Journal rs
the result 0“? RD 321, whlch focused on cont
nectrng students to research opportunrtres ln
2010, the mm shrfted rts focus to promotrng
and spreadrng awareness ofundergraduate re

search at llTas awhole,through a studemrrun
publrcatron After gmrng the support ofllT
faculty and admrnrstrators, mm members
created a students organlzatlonto carry onthe
work

The submrssron deadlrne for the
ZOlllssuels1159 pm on October!

URIllt welcomes submrssrons from
all undergraduates wrthrn the m communrty,
rncludrng students from Shrmer College and
Vandercook College ofMusrc 2011 graduates
are also welcome to contrrbute Submrssrons
can take the form of documents, posters, or
yrdeos currently, URIllt rs acceptrng artrcles
m the followrng formats

Eonnal research artrcle Atndlllonr
al sclemlfic artrcle that descrrbes the subject,
methods, and results of the research Thrs rs
approprrate formost sclemlfic research at UT

Essay An essay whrch crtesyenfrable
references, thrs excludes frctron and unsupr
ported oprnronpreces Thrs format rs lmended
for researchers studymg l-lumanrtres and other

subjects whrch typrcally do not adhereto the
aboye format

therature revlew A cntlcal revlew
of a publrshed work The reyrew could argue
ortest the clarms made by the works author,
eyaluate technrques and methods used, et cer
tera

Research expenence A personal
narratrye hlghllghtlng the expenences ofber
rng myolyed rnundergraduate research, rather
than the cortert and results ofthe research
rtself Thrs format may be usefrl for onrgolng
research projects, IPROs whrch do not haye a
physrcal endrproduct, and when the research
content rs copyrrgrted by athrrdparty

ln addrtron to submrttrng artrcles,
studerts can also get myolyed by becomrng
members of URIllt Posltlons are dryrded rrto
threeboards

The Desrgn Board creates all ofthe
Journals yrsual desrgrs, rangrng from pnnt
(coyers and layout) and marketmg (flrers and
posters) to Web cortert The Peer Revlew

anrd reyrews submrssrons, sugests edrts for
artrcles, and proyrdes feedbackfor submrtters

The Edrtorral anrd oyersees all
steps of publrcatron, edrts artrcles, manages
all busrness aspects of the organlzatlon, and
works wrth authors, faculty, and peerreyrewr
ers to marmarn qualrty and style standards for
all URIllI content

currently, URIllt rntends to publrsh
annually m the fall semester lfthere are conr
srstertly enougr submlsslons,the]oumal may
swrtch to publrshrng an rssue eyery semester
Whlle suryeymg studems durrng mm 321,
questronnarre data showed that many studems
were unaware ofthat undergraduates could be
myolyed rn research URIllt seeks to not only
reyerse that trend, but to rncrease lmerest and
partrcrpatron rn undergraduate research at UT

Pull submrssron gurdelrnes are avallr
able at http //ur]l|t wordpress com/submlU
Questlons about URIllI can be sent to ur]llt@
gmarl com