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07.08
Sections
Going Green
Experiences of
the IEEE Central Indiana Section and Lessons for
Greening Your Section
By Earl Hill and Will
Kassebaum
In April, IEEE-USA held
its annual meeting in Indianapolis. The theme
for this year was “Green Engineering.” As part
of this effort, Central Indiana Section (CIS)
members Earl Hill and Will Kassebaum presented
“Sections Going Green,” which covered how
individual IEEE Sections can increase
understanding of “green technology,” especially
as it relates to electrical engineering.
Green engineering is already a
primary area of interest for IEEE members. In
the Midwest, where CIS is based, there has
been a significant increase in production of
renewable energy. The Midwest Independent System
Operator (which CIS toured in May 2008) is
considering proposed projects that would add up
to 60,000 additional megawatts of
renewable-based energy to its grid. Biofuels are
under development as well. Clearly, now is the
time to explore these issues.
CIS leadership believes that
the IEEE has an obligation to educate its
members and to advocate appropriate policies.
Based on the facts — presented in an unbiased
manner — individual IEEE members can make their
own decisions regarding the best strategies to
implement green policies, and how to educate the
public on these strategies. While the national
organization has a number of responsibilities,
the “rubber meets the road” with the local
Sections. To this end, CIS has moved forward
with a series of presentations involving green
concepts. This effort will continue as long as
interest in this area, and the need to understand
these concepts, continue.
CIS has conducted a number
of activities other Sections can build on.
The first should be a discussion of what “green” really means. A number
of definitions and terms have been discussed,
most referencing sustainability, energy
efficiency and other related subjects. While CIS has generally followed the accepted wisdom
in this area, other Sections can and should
explore the definitions in more detail. In many
cases, the choice falls to green and “greener”
technologies. Cost and ease of implementation
are also questions that Sections can address
through speakers, tours and panel discussions.
The CIS Power & Energy /
Industrial Applications Societies have taken the
lead in developing these areas of “green
engineering.” Each Section should note that many
other areas present an opportunity to discuss
green issues. For instance, the recycling of
computers and other electronic hardware is
becoming a contentious issue — currently, many
PCs are sent for scavenging to China, where they
are "recycled" in a decidedly non-green manner. IEEE
members represent a significant number of PC users, and this
issue should be a discussion topic.
CIS has organized green
engineering as follows:
Technology
-
Energy production
-
Energy consumption
-
Other production
Policy
In each of these areas, CIS
has held or will hold tours, and has brought in
knowledgeable speakers. Past and present tours
include:
-
the Wabash River Generation
Station (coal gasification)
-
the Lugar Alternate Energy
Center at Indiana University-Perdue
University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
-
the AltairNano battery
facility
-
the I-Power distributed
generation unit factory, (planned for Fall
2008)
-
the Benton Country Wind farm
(planned for Spring 2009)
While these tours are specific
to Central Indiana, other areas of the county
likely have similar facilities that could
be explored. Additionally, Indiana is home to many biofuels facilities, and as such, the production
of ethanol and soy diesel has increased
recently, partially due to high gas prices. CIS plans to further investigate biofuels to
determine where they fit with other green
initiatives. As noted above, the definition of
“green” can vary significantly, and some see
using biofuels as green; others, not so green.
Similarly, the jury is still out
on the cleanliness and environmental impact of
clean coal, and CIS has presented seminars
on research into this area. Further, CIS
plans to investigate the development and
implementation of the smart grid. One of the
goals of the smart grid movement is to achieve
more efficient power usage. Smart grid
advocates also recommend “time of
day” metering, to provide price signals to
consumers, so they use less energy at peak times.
CIS will fully investigated these concepts.
As part of its routine efforts,
CIS holds a number of short, four-week
courses covering areas related to CIS priority
issues. In 2007, it held a short course on
alternate energy. Due to the high level of
interest, CIS will offer an updated course
on the same general topic this Fall.
While the exact topics have not yet been
determined, advanced power supply systems and
energy efficiency almost certainly will be
included.
CIS also searched for
knowledgeable speakers in the green
technology realm. One good source was the
IEEE Distinguished Speakers Bureau. Here CIS found Dr. Kausik Rajashekera, an expert
on fuel cells, who works in the automotive
industry within CIS footprint. In addition,
Bill Brown, a well-known local green architect,
addressed CIS members. As part of the
Lugar Center tour, CIS heard from Dr. Andrew
Hsu, the director of the Center. Beyond
technical personnel, CIS has been addressed
by state officials directly involved in
promoting biofuels and wind power in Indiana. In
each case, the individuals in question were
happy to address the Section. In the future, CIS plans to recruit additional speakers from
the IEEE Power & Energy Society Distinguished
Speakers Bureau.
CIS has been able to take
advantage of local resources as well. It is
one of a number of Sections that include
prestigious universities, such as Purdue, Rose Hulman Institute of
Technology, and IUPUI. Each of these
universities has a number of professors involved
in the green engineering area who have been
willing to speak on their research and projects.
Contacting these professors and their graduate
students is often very rewarding.
CIS is also considering
panel discussions on both green technology, and
on the political issues associated with going
green. As noted above, society often has to make
decisions between green technologies. These
decisions should be well-informed decisions,
rather than the typical “squeaky wheel”
decisions made by our political leaders. IEEE
members need to discuss, and even debate the
merits of different strategies and proposals,
and propel the information to relevant decision
makers. To this end, CIS has reached out to
policy makers (as noted above) and will continue
to do so. Government policies will have a
significant impact on what technologies will be
implemented, and, again, IEEE members must be
involved. Finally, individual members and local
Sections can help drive the proper advocacy, by
working with IEEE-USA on the policies crafted by
our IEEE advocates in Washington.
CIS has only begun to
address the issues of green engineering.
However, we believe that our Section — and every
other Section — has an obligation to bring the
issues involved to the forefront. Green
engineering will be a significant element of our
future, and we all need to participate to ensure
the best results.
For more information, contact
the IEEE Central Indiana Section via our Web site
at www.cis-ieee.org. We plan to continually
update IEEE-USA regarding progression of our
activities in the future, and hope many other
Sections will be doing the same.
Earl S. Hill is the founder and principal of Loma
Consulting (which provides services to the
electric utility industry), based in
Indianapolis, IN. He is a senior member of
the IEEE, and is the Chair of the Power and
Energy and Industrial Applications Societies in
the Central Indiana Section.
William R. Kassebaum, P.E.,
is executive vice president and founder of
Stellar Wind Development LLC, an Indianapolis
based Professional Computer and Electrical
Engineering Consulting company focused on
technology development and intellectual property
formation. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE and
serves as as chair of the Central Indiana
Section (2006-present), co-chair of the Central
Indiana Engineering Consultants’ Network, and is
a member of the coordinating committee of the
IEEE-USA Alliance of IEEE Consultants’ Networks
(AICN).
Comments may
be submitted to todaysengineer@ieee.org.
Opinions expressed are the
authors'.
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