Student newspaper of Illinois Institute of Technology since 1928

CAZST, WISER present ‘Sustainable Energy'
lecture on new, attainable resources

By Swasti Khuntia
LAYOUT EDITOR

The Chicago Council on Science
and Technology (CZST) in association with
Wanger Institute for Sustainable Energy Re,
search (WISER) at IIT hosted a mindeboggling
lecture on “Sustainable Energy: Fact or Fice
tion’l

Researchers, technologists, and stu
dents gathered at the Illinois Institute of Tech,
nology’s McCloska Auditorium in the MTCC
to discuss best practices, new technologies,
and ideas that are making “Sustainable Enere
gy" a reality

The lecture was presented by George
W Crabtree, Senior Scientist and Distine
guished Fellow in the Materials Science Die
vision at Argonne National Laboratory, and
Distinguished Professor of Physics, Electrical,
and Mechanical Engineering at University of
Illinois at Chicago

The lecture started with current
challenges to sustainable energy, iiei, oil, econ,
omy, and carbon dioxide Explaining the real
meaning of sustainability; various alternatives
and roadblocks of sustainable energy formed
the epicenter of lecture The dependence on
oil and other fossil fuels for over 80% of our
energy and the continued emission of carbon
dioxide threatening our stable climate are cape
tured in a single term: sustainability

Although we generally agree that
sustainability is valuable, there is less agree,
ment on how much sustainability is necessary
or desirable In this talk, three criteria describe
ing increasingly strict features of sustainability
were presented and applied to evaluate the al
ternatives to oil and carbon dioxide emissionl

These included tapping unused en,
ergy flows in sunlight and wind, producing
electricity without carbon emissions from
clean coal and high efficiency nuclear power
plants, and replacing oil with bioefuel or elece
tricity

 

The implementation of these suse
tainable alternatives will require new cost ef
fective nanoscale materials The successful
development of such materials will have a
marked impact on the production of energy
in a sustainable and environmentally benign
fashionl

Drl Crabtree emphasized educating
the next generation for energy literacy This
includes scientists and engineers, regulators,
government officials, businessmen, urban
planners and finally, private citizens, who are
the ultimate decision makers Extensive re,
search is required for the development of more
sustainable technologies in the form of materi
als of greater complexity and functionality

There should be a unified view
which incorporates renewable energy, fossil
fuels, nuclear science, electricity, transportae
tion, economics, sociology, policy and urban
planning Finally, the lecture concluded with
exchange of ideas between Drl Crabtree and
researchers

MU [II] N |
£ U Bl BNQSUBICE um lEENfluEV

5‘" 7 7 . . i a
mun Emmett nu surm AID nonunion!

SUSlalnable Energy' Factor Fiction

Photos by Swastl Khuntla & Karthlk Knmar

technewsiit.com

Opi ion 2
Campus 3
AErE 5

The Slipstick 6
Sports 2

 

The Bog

Campus bar extends
hours to create new
commuter student
lounge

By Elnaz Moshfeghian
SGA PRESIDENT

Starting Thursday February 9th,
The Bog Will open from 11 am. to 5 pm.
Monday to Thursday as a commuter lounge
in addition to its regular Thursday to Friday
5 pm. to 1 am. schedule.

Commuter student needs were the
primary motivation for this initiative but all
students are welcome and encouraged to
take advantage of these new hours.

The idea to use The Bog as a
lounge originated from an SGA VoteBox
post and is one of ten completed VoteBox
projects since the site launched last semes-
ter.

Undergraduate student, Piyush
Sinha was the author of the post that sparked
this idea.

“There aren’t too many places on
campus Where you can relax until your next
class,” said Sinha. “Why not turn The Bog
into a lounge for students during the week
days? It has everything you would need.”

Campus and Conference Centers
(CCC) Director Kelly Schaefer noticed the
post on VoteBox and responded enthusiasti-
cally to the suggestion.

Director Schaefer outlined the
next steps and reached out to the Student
Government Association (SGA) to gage the
broader student interest and begin imple-
mentation With the help of the rest of the
CCC team.

The Bog is now set to begin its
lounge hours on February 9 With a grand
opening celebration scheduled on Monday
February 23. Amenities of the lounge Will
include a refrigerator and microwave for
public use, in addition to lockers available
for rent. Furthermore, student organizations
can use the Bog Programming Fund to host
events during these new hours. Student or-
ganizations can contact Vince Poczekaj,
Union Board’s Vice President of The Bog,
at ubBOva@gmail.com for more informa-
tion.

As With the current Bog hours,
pool, ping-pong, video games, and other
items available at the recreation desk are
free. The exception is that during the 11am.
to 5 pm. Monday to Thursday “lounge
hours,” the bar and kitchen area, as well as
the bowling lanes, Will be unavailable.

 

Image courtesy ofThe Bog