Riding the Wind: the St. Olaf Wind Turbine
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind. — Bob Dylan
Rely increasingly on natural energy flows. (more)
There's always lots of hot air on a college campus, but scientists haven't yet discovered how to harness it to make useful energy.
Other air can be more productive, especially the wind. For thousands of years, human civilizations have used wind to move boats, crush grain, and pump water. Just a hundred years ago, rural America was dotted with small windmills that pumped water from wells drilled into the prairie. St. Olaf College used a windmill to provide water for its students.  Now the college is going back to the future, installing a 1.65 megawatt wind turbine to generate electricity for our lights and refrigeration, our computers and printers, our TVs and stereos and radios, our coffee makers and other assorted appliances. In 2004, the college applied for a grant from Xcel Energy's Renewable Development Fund. St. Olaf's application was the highest-ranked wind project in the funding cycle, and we received the full amount of 1.5 million dollars for a 1.9 million dollar project. When the turbine is operational in 2005, it will generate about 6 million kilowatt-hours of energy annually, replacing about one-third of the college's electricity purchases. It will also make the college Kyoto-compliant, because we will have reduced our carbon impact by more than 20 percent. [More information about Kyoto]
The turbine will stand in one of the college's farm fields, about 1200 feet west of Ytterboe Hall. It's a gargantuan construction: the tower is almost a football field in height, and the wingspan of the blades is 80 meters. Historically speaking, however, the turbine is even bigger than that. The revolution of its rotors marks a revolution in American consciousness and environmental responsibility. It's a Statue of Liberty and a declaration of independence, freeing people from their unthinking dependence on fossil fuels. And with Carleton's wind turbine on the east end of Northfield , the two turbines bracket a town of cows, colleges, contentment and ecological accomplishment.
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