Medford residents have a new, 121-foot-tall neighbor. Starting this Thursday, a wind turbine will provide clean energy and sustainable wind power to students at McGlynn Elementary School.
‘It’s such a great environmental project, especially for education,’ Medford’s Energy and Environmental Office Director Patty Barry said
The turbine cost about $600,000, Barry said. The city paid for it primarily through grants totaling $350,000, with Massachusetts initially pledging another $200,000 in assistance. It will not provide for all of the school’s electricity needs, but the turbine will result in a 133-ton reduction of Medford’s carbon emissions and enhance education, she said.
The turbine’s proximity to the school means that the city will incorporate the windmill into its curriculum, she said. Although the turbine was completed on Jan. 23, necessary additional testing means the turbine will not be operational until Thursday at the earliest, she said.
Medford has plans to build a turbine since January 2004, Medford Clean Air Committee member Robert Paine said. The school site was ideal because it gave the turbine needed space, allowed construction on city property and is isolated from residential buildings, Paine said.
‘We made sure the tower was far enough away from any residences,’ he said.
Although residents never voted on the turbine, the city has held public and government committee hearings since last year. For the most part, residents have voiced support for the project, he said.
Maureen McCracken, marketing director of North Power, the company that manufactured the windmill, said smaller turbines are becoming more viable options for communities than in the past because they utilize smaller spaces and lower wind-speeds.
‘In the community scale, it is emerging very quickly,’ McCraken said. ‘The Northeast and Massachusetts are leading the way.’
The turbine will generate about 220,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity in a year, she said. Turbines need ample space because of their size and weight, but also because they need free wind that’s clear of interferences, McCracken said.
‘A lot of what wind power does is stabilize [energy] rates,’ he said.
Medford’s wind turbine will generate 10 percent of McGlynn Elementary School’s power needs.’ BU Energy Club’s marketing and advertising chair Mike Galbo said BU is about 10 years from having 10 percent of its energy come from renewable sources.
Boston University Sustainability Coordinator Dennis Carlberg said although he supports wind turbines, they aren’t necessarily a practical option for BU, because of its urban location.
‘Right now, renewable energy is one of the bigger challenges we have for global warming,’ Carlberg said.
The School of Education does have solar panels to help power the building, Galbo said. However, BU’s size means energy efficiency would prove more practical in terms of cost and effectiveness than renewable energy sources alone, Galbo said.
Galbo said renewable energy sources help prevent overall greenhouse gas emissions, but that he’ thinks visible structures such as turbines and solar panels serve a mostly symbolic purpose.
‘Energy efficiency is the most practical means,’ he said.
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Cost $600,000 & will only produce 10% of schools electricity – who did the maths?
That is wonderful! We need to do everything in our power to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.We have so much available to use such as wind and solar as well as technologies to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. There could be no better investment in than to invest in energy independence. Create clean cheap energy,create millions of BADLY needed new green jobs, and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.The high cost of fuel this past year did serious damage to our society and economy. Record numbers of jobs and homes have been lost due to the direct impact on our economy.Oil is finite.We are using it globally at the rate of 2 X faster than new oil is being discovered. Added to the strain on our supplies foreign countries are bursting in populations and becoming modern.China and India alone are expected to add another 3 million vehicles to their highways in the next 2 decades. I just read a fantastic book called The Manhattan Project of 2009 Energy Independence Now by Jeff Wilson.Great Book!