State College Goes Green Through Wind Energy
Penn State Skystream Wind Turbine. Photo taken by Megan Jander
STATE COLLEGE, PA- Since 2007, State College has been working on ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.1 One of the many sources of renewable energy is wind energy.
Wind energy is supplied through wind turbines, which differ greatly from windmills. Windmills pump water or grind grains, while wind turbines transform wind into energy, supplying electricity that is safe for the environment.
Dr. Susan Stewart is an Aerospace Engineering Research Associate and professor at The Pennsylvania State University. She discusses the benefits of wind energy.
“It’s a free resource, it’s a renewable resource in contrast to fossil fuels, which have formed over millions and millions of years…therefore, we will run out of them eventually,” Dr. Stewart said. “Anything that we can learn to live off of that we’re receiving on a daily basis, the more sustainable we can become.”
Dr. Stewart also recognizes and addresses the concerns surrounding wind turbines since their production.
“There were some wind farms that were sited improperly…that had some impacts on birds…the ones today have a much smaller impact on the bird populations. They’re not put in locations where you have migratory bird routes,” she said.
She also mentioned how over the years the wind industry has grown and learned from past mistakes in order to prevent and protect local wildlife.
Six of seven wind farms, with 210 wind turbines, are within twenty-five miles of State College. These turbines generated 0.8 percent of the state’s power last year and a National Renewable Energy lab assessed that wind could generate up to 6.4 percent of the state’s overall electrical needs.2 This means that the future of wind energy is a positive one and Energy Engineering graduate student, Nicholas Ward, agrees.
“With the current development, and in particular the potential for offshore, there’s plenty of technical and economic incentives and initiatives that will drive the wind industry forward,” he said.
Pennsylvania is ranked number sixteen in the nation in wind power capacity. As more projects are set to begin next year, that ranking could change in the coming years.2
Wind energy is not perfect and cannot be used as a sole source of energy, but if it continues to head in a positive direction, wind energy will be among the top sources of renewable energy in the country, lessening toxic emissions and overall being one of the cleanest forms of producing power.
Sources: