News Release

BOISE STATE NEWS RELEASE / May 20, 2008

Boise State Named Wind Application Center by DOE; Rural Schools to Receive Educational Wind Turbines

Boise State University was recently named one of six Wind Application Centers in the nation through the U.S. Department of Energy’s Wind for Schools program. During the three-year program, Boise State undergraduates in engineering will manage the siting and construction of small 1.9-kilowatt wind turbines at up to 12 rural Idaho schools.

The purpose of the $41,000-a-year program is to educate rural K-12 students about wind energy and engage rural communities in a discussion regarding the applications and benefits of a robust wind energy future for rural America. Meanwhile, Boise State’s engineering students will develop real-world experience in wind energy project development.

“Helping people understand and embrace its potential is fundamental to the progress of wind energy as a viable source of renewable energy,” said John Gardner, Boise State’s associate vice president for energy research, policy and campus sustainability. “Getting the public behind the research and advances being made in wind power here at Boise State and other universities through programs like this can make a big difference.”

The program, which makes Boise State the only DOE Wind Application Center in Idaho, will build on the university’s ongoing wind power research and the installation of a similar wind turbine at Idaho Falls’ Skyline High School last year.

These turbines will be excellent “ambassadors” for wind power among the schools’ students and the community, according to Todd Haynes, coordinator of the Wind for Schools program at Boise State. The turbines, which are being purchased at a discount rate from Arizona’s Southwest Windpower, also will provide the schools’ teachers with an ongoing laboratory for lessons about electricity and power use.

In addition to the DOE’s National Renewable Energy Lab and Idaho National Lab, other partners in the initiative include the Idaho State Department of Education, which is helping identify rural schools that would benefit from having the small wind turbines on their campuses, the Tidwell Idaho Foundation and local electric utilities in the communities ultimately selected.

Most of the $41,000 annual grant from DOE will be used to pay the Boise State undergraduates who will work with the schools and local land use officials to site and install the turbines.

“This will provide invaluable real-world experience for our students,” Haynes said. “They’ll be taking these projects from concept to completion, which is experience that will make them very attractive to would-be employers.”

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Media Contact: Mike Journee, University Communications, (208) 426-1517, mikejournee@boisestate.edu

AfterWork is a new Boise State University program that allows adults to complete their entire bachelor’s degree through a combination of evening, weekend and online classes without exiting from their career track. More information is available at www.boisestate.edu/afterwork. 


 

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Last reviewed on Tuesday, May 20, 2008