Winded

where do wind turbines work?

Wind energy may be thriving on the prairie, but harnessing its power in cities has turned out to be more of a challenge. The University of Minnesota-Morris was the country’s first public university to use a large-scale wind turbine to produce electricity. Built in 2005, the turbine now produces more than half the electricity the campus uses yearly.

The Morris turbine produces electricity when the turbine’s wind speed reaches 7.8 miles per hour at 230 feet above ground. Such high wind speeds are harder to come by in cities, where buildings block the gusts. As a result, urban turbines are rare. Macalester College in St. Paul is one exception: it built a turbine on its campus in 2003—one of only a handful of urban turbines in the nation. Macalester would need to build about 300 identical turbines to supply the college with all its electrical needs.

Are turbines in the future of the U of M’s Twin Cities campus? Not likely, says Peter Starzynski, organizer for the Minnesota Public Interest Research Group for the U of M-Morris, who notes the campus has too many buildings to utilize wind energy. “Morris has a lot more open space and a lot more wind,” he says.

Johnny Germscheid

And check out Johnny's interview with Bridget Ulrich.