SWE - Winter 2008 - (Page 34)

Chicago has set a goal of cutting yearly emissions of carbon dioxide by 25 percent from 1990 levels with help from private and government funding. Mayor Richard M. Daley has long advocated green roofs and neighborhood beautification, but he has stepped up the goal of making commercial buildings green. Chicago is a pilot project for the Clinton Climate Initiative, in which the Clinton Foundation helps pay for programs to reduce energy use at commercial buildings. Separately, JPMorgan Chase will contribute at least $25 million to help residential building owners make environmentally friendly retrofits. Chicago has a substantial number of building projects registered to earn LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, and its Mechanical Contractors Association is working to build green awareness among its members and clients. According to the U.S. Green Building Council, Chicago’s latest addition to its McCormick Place convention center is the largest new building in the country to receive LEED certification. McCormick Place opened its West Annex in August 2007. Chicago also has distinguished itself by pinpointing gritty urban neighborhoods for green projects, including the site of the former Cabrini-Green public-housing site and the Chicago Center for Green Technology, a refurbished factory on the West Side. Boston-based Cape Wind Associates is developing a project to build the United States’ first offshore wind energy farm in Nantucket Sound. The proposed 130 wind turbines would provide nearly 75 percent of the electricity used on Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket. In addition, the state legislature is considering a bill to require that home-heating oil and diesel fuel contain at least 5 percent biofuel by 2013. If passed, the bill would make Massachusetts the first state to require that homes be heated in part by renewable fuel. The bill would also waive Massachusetts’ 23-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax on fuel made from cellulosic ethanol, a fuel based on the cellulose of plant mass and wood chips. Other states, including Florida, Iowa, Maine, and Minnesota, offer tax incentives to biodiesel companies. A meteorological tower in Nantucket Sound collects wind, weather, and ocean data for research scientists working on a proposed offshore wind farm off the coast of Cape Cod, Mass. In Massachusetts, 34 SWE WINTER 2008 CAPE WIND ASSOCIATES CAPE WIND ASSOCIATES The West Annex of the McCormick Place in Chicago is the largest new building in the country to receive LEED certification. growing opportunities in green-building construction, as well as in solar, wind, and wave technology. In the latter, Seattle utilities are experimenting with wave technology that began in Norway using offshore platforms. According to the Norwegian Marine Technology Research Institute, large balls are placed between the legs of the platform, and as the balls are moved by the waves, the energy they capture can be converted into electricity. Engineers in the automotive industry could transition to hybrid cars; those in the semiconductor industry may be able to leverage their experience in the solar-array industry, and engi- neers in hydropower could transition to wind, wave, and solar power companies, Kostek said. If You’re a Student. Many students are already enrolling in courses with green potential. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) has seen its bioprocess engineering program grow from two students to 45 students, in just four years. The university has added seven faculty members in the last three years, bringing the total faculty in the bioprocess engineering department to 11. Saied Mostaghimi, Ph.D., department head for biological systems engineering at Virginia Tech, said the department’s roots are in agriculture. “The discipline has changed tremendously from a focus on agriculture to looking at the environmental impact of agriculture and on using trees, crop residues, and animal wastes for conversion to value-added products, including biofuels,” Dr. Mostaghimi said. Examples include converting chicken feathers into plastics and converting trees and corn residues into ethanol and biodiesel. “In our curriculum, we’ve included a tremendous focus on biology,” Dr. Mostaghimi said. “We require chemistry, biology, and engineering courses together.” The program, which deals with sustainability, received interest from more than 100 students, but Virginia Tech was forced to cap the enrollment at 40 due to limited resources. The biological systems engineering department also has a “green engineering” certificate program and is experimenting with expanding it across Virginia Tech’s engineering disciplines. Indeed, more than 50 colleges and universities offer environmental engineering programs, according to the Sloan Career Cornerstone Center. The trends were similar for greenrelated courses at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C. The number of new freshmen enrolled in civil, construction, and METROPOLITAN PIER AND EXPOSITION AUTHORITY

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of SWE - Winter 2008

SWE - Winter 2008 Heritage Club President’s Note View from the Executive Suite Editor’s Page Readers’ Forum EWeek 2008 New Faces of Engineering The Leaky Science and Engineering Pipeline Why Do Women Leave the Engineering Work Force? A Greener America = New Growth Fields for Engineers The Off-On Ramp Revolution Recognizing the Historic Contributions of African-Americans Membership Information & Calendar A&B Women in Tune with Technology: SWE 2007 Conference Overview Keynote Address Achievement Award Region, Section, and Collegiate Awards SME Bowl and SWE Anniversaries Engineering World: Point of View: Why I Blog Career Toolbox Book Review SWE Smiles Opportunity Index SWE Scrapbook

SWE - Winter 2008

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