Monday, February 18, 2008

Babson College to harness wind power on campus

Babson College in Wellesley plans to install a residential-scale wind turbine on the school's campus as a demonstration project. The project, which is expected to be up and running at Babson by the close of the spring 2008 semester, would make the institution the first Boston-area college to use wind power through an on-campus installation.

The turbine, a 1.8 kilowatt unit manufactured by Southwest Windpower of Arizona, is expected to produce enough energy to supply roughly 60 percent of the annual energy needs at the school's entrepreneurship gallery, after planned lighting renovations are completed to the space.

Part of the funding for the project -- $5,000 -- will come through the Babson Energy and Environmental Club (BEEC), which raised the funds during the past year through the organization's e-waste recycling campaign, as well as some solicited contributions.

The project was spearheaded by a team of graduate students and was introduced through the BEEC, a student-led organization at the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business, according to Babson.

Babson has been active in green energy initiatives on campus for several years. The school has invested more than $900,000 in capital projects with energy efficiency and carbon footprint benefits.

Southwest Windpower is privately-funded, in part by Boston's RockPort Capital Partners.