The
University of Minnesota Morris campus has always been a green
trendsetter: Since 2000, the campus has been a national leader in clean
energy and sustainable food initiatives. Now, with the upcoming
installation of additional wind turbines, the Minnesota campus aims to set the
standards for energy efficiency.
According to
Finance and Commerce:
The University of Minnesota Morris plans to install two 1.65-megawatt wind turbines this year near its existing wind turbine as part of a campus mission to be energy self-sufficient by the end of 2010.
Already known as an energy-conscious campus, university officials installed the first wind turbine north of the liberal arts buildings in 2005. Two years later, officials broke ground on a biomass-fired energy generator nearby.
With the new turbine, the three facilities will be capable of generating nearly five megawatts of electricity, with project costs for installing the two additional turbines estimated at $7.4 million, or $2.24 million per installed megawatt of wind energy generation.
The new turbines are expected to bring the Morris campus to the brink of energy independence while slashing its carbon footprint by more than 80 percent.
The university also plans this year to launch its biomass and gasification demonstration and research facility, which will produce steam for nearly of the campus' heating and cooling needs. The steam will also generate enough electricity to power the biomass facility. According to the DNR:
UMM and its partners plan to investigate the pros and cons of producing biomass energy with agricultural residue or dedicated energy crops, such as native prairie grasses. The facility will enable researchers to examine the best ways to harvest, prepare, and store readily available local biomass feedstocks. Researchers also hope to discover how to gasify feedstocks so that ash byproduct, or biochar, can be put back into farm soils to improve soil productivity.