October online edition
NEWS
Wind power to shed light on CMU
Russell Snyder
Pittsburgh Standard
Carnegie Mellon is once again
making historic firsts. After being the first university to install a wireless
campus network, President Cohen announced at last year’s commencement that
Carnegie Mellon would be the first university to purchase a portion of its
energy supply from a nearby wind farm.
The initiative is an attempt to use a cleaner
source of energy that will help to improve environmental quality. Through an
agreement with the Community Energy Inc., five percent of CMU’s electricity will
be provided by the Exelon-Wind Energy Wind Farm at Mill Run in Fayette County,
enough to power 650 homes for a year. Carnegie Mellon is also working with the
Environmental Defense Fund, a liberal environmental group that has its activist
origins in the DDT scare of the sixties and has most recently lobbied for the
practically defunct Kyoto Protocol designed to combat global warming.
"Our university is
committed to using our research and education programs -- as well as our own
campus practices -- to improve environmental quality, to provide leadership in
environmentally sustainable practices and to support the development of wind
power generation in western Pennsylvania,” said Jared Cohen, president of
Carnegie Mellon.
The plan does not come
without its cost. The university says that the wind-generated energy will cost
2 cents/kilowatt hour more than traditional coal sources, a 48% price increase.
Wind power is more costly because of a low capacity factor that results from its
intermittent power source, forcing utilities to firm up the intermittent periods
at a premium and increasing financial costs related to an unreliable energy
source. Wind power costs do have the benefit of being more stable, however,
because they are not subject to fuel price costs and can be bought with
long-term contracts.
The university’s
Environmental Practices Committee, which recommended the wind power agreement,
plans to actively promote ways to reduce energy usage among the campus community
in order to offset the price increase. It plans to build on the current
recycling plan, in existence for the past ten years.
Campus reaction is
understandably mixed on whether purchasing wind power at a premium is a good use
of tuition funds and on whether CMU is being sincere in its efforts.
“CMU's commitment to
wind power is more to draw headlines, than to actually contribute to the
environment”, says Kevin Cherry, a Materials Science graduate student. “The
additional money will come from the pockets of students and not from the
university officials. Once again, the CMU administration has shown how noble it
can be with other people's money.”
Kevin Frederick, an ECE
graduate student, feels that the extra cost of electricity is not a big deal.
“It is critical to encourage attempts to expand our energy resources and this
seems like an excellent prospect. It is also great since the university appears
to gain access to the science or environmental policies that went into this new
local source of power.”
“Even if it costs more, after all,
you can’t get everything for free,” says Andrea Okerholm, a graduate student in
ECE. “I’d rather pay more to have clean air than have more money in my pocket
and smog.”
The wind farm in Mill Run is
currently under construction about 40 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, anticipated
completion occurring later this year. The project is expected to cost $18
million. Ten to twelve acres will be covered with towers 231 feet high and
having a rotor diameter of 231 feet. Community Energy Inc, a ‘green’ marketing
company founded in 1999 by environmental groups, is working with Exelon Power to
provide the multi-state region with 70 megawatts of wind power, an amount that
will triple the amount of wind power in the eastern United States. Residential
customers will be able to choose to purchase a number of blocks of wind energy
as part of their ordinary electric supply.
Although traditional coal sources
certainly emit pollution, wind power also has its environmental critics.
Wind farms are often noisy, land-intensive, unsightly and hazardous to birds,
including endangered species, a fact that has resulted in the National Audubon
Society calling for a moratorium on new wind development in bird-sensitive
areas. Community Electric has stated that the studies of the region have
indicated that the impact on the bird population is minimal. The land required
is quite large, 85 times more than a traditional gas-fired plant.
Kevin
Cherry highlights these issues, “Yes, there are zero emissions, but there still
is environment damage wrought by foresting the land with giant windmills; first
the footprint of such an installation is quite large because it is not as
efficient as a coal-fired plant and secondly these windmills are giant
bird-killing machines. If CMU really wants to help reduce emissions, wouldn’t
it make more sense to try to reduce the amount of electricity the campus is
consuming?”
The
university feels that this agreement is just part of a larger plan to be at the
forefront of research into tomorrow’s energy sources, becoming the model of
environmental stewardship.
One thing
is for certain. It isn’t the worst way for CMU to spend its money, as senior
Computer Science major, Seth Porter, indicates, “Frankly, I’d sooner spend my
money for tuition cutting down on coal usage than paying yet another Student
Activities fee to get a weak band for Carnival.”
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