Wind power will be the topic of discussion for the Sustainability Café on Thursday, November 11, from 12:10-1:00pm in the Klingenstein Lounge in the Campus Center.
Presenters for this event are Beth Ellen Clark Joseph (assistant professor in the physics department with research interests in planetary science and sustainability engineering), and David Sungarian (graduate student in mechanical engineering at Cornell University working with Francis Vanek).
For this Sustainability Café, there is no need to bring a bag lunch. Along with the usual munchies offered for these events, Elan Shapiro from EcoVillage is arranging for an assortment of foods from regional sources.
The Sustainability Café series is offered in conjunction with the faculty colloquium series sponsored by the Center for Faculty Excellence. All faculty colloquium series events and Sustainability Cafés are free and open to the entire College community.
As concern over long-term supplies of fossil fuels and the environmental impacts of their use continue to grow, energy issues will become increasingly important to academic institutions like Ithaca College. There will come a time when the environmental damages caused by fossil fuel use are no longer acceptable to us or to our students. One way that we can prepare for the impending change is to choose to develop our renewable energy resources. Right now, the economic incentives for wind power from the State of New York are so good that Ithaca College can benefit environmentally and financially from building a wind power facility on campus. By developing our wind power potential, Ithaca College can project the image of high technology, being future-oriented and environmentally responsible.
At this talk, we will present the basics of harnessing wind for power and lead a discussion on how a wind tower on campus might be used to affect curriculum development. We will discuss the Ithaca College wind power initiative being led by John Confer (biology), as well as the Ecovillage wind power study being led by Francis Vanek (Cornell, Ecovillage). Also of interest are the Cornell University plans for integrating wind power.
Contributed by Marian Brown
