Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
attitudes and inclinations of administrations in Washington and
the governors in a few states. Wind energy technology began to go
through its own evolution. Some of the turbines from those days
were patterned after earlier designs; others were based on wishful
thinking. Regardless of their provenance, however, it must be said
that many of the turbines did not work very well or for very long.
24.4
Engineering and Education for a
Renewable Energy Future
In order to make the vision of a renewable energy future a reality
it became quite clear that the turbines needed to be more reliable
and the way they could be integrated into a complete energy
system needed to be better thought out. This all required serious
engineering at the highest level. Turbines must be able to extract
energy from the wind, convert it to a usable form, and deliver the
energy to its point of use, all with structures that are light, resilient,
and inexpensive, and within the confines of an electrical system
which is required to supply firm power on demand. The fluctuating
nature of wind, the structural response of the turbines, and the
need for very long lives, imposed design requirements that were
very challenging. These requirements were not well understood
in the 1970s. It also became apparent that to make a wind energy
system function properly requires expertise in many areas, including
meteorology, aerodynamics, structural mechanics, materials, control,
mathematical modelling, machine design, electrical systems and
cost engineering, to name a few.
What setting is better for contemplating such problems than
a university? Once I finished my Ph.D., it seemed to me that the most
interesting and useful thing I could do would be to continue and
expand the renewable energy education and research program at
UMass that Professor Heronemus had started, so that is what I set
out to do. This whole endeavour has had many twists and turns over
the last 30 years, but it has resulted in opportunities for many
students to learn about wind energy and to undertake research
that had real significance.
The UMass wind energy program has been active in wide
range of research areas, including hybrid power system design,
wind resource analysis, wind turbine operation and design, and
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