Wind turbine at Medford school saves money, educates students

Students passing by the Gantcher Center can now catch a glimpse of a 121-foot-tall wind turbine recently constructed by the City of Medford to provide renewable energy for McGlynn Elementary and Middle School.
    The turbine became operational on Feb. 5, after it was dedicated at a ribbon-cutting ceremony late last month. It will provide for 10 percent of the school's yearly energy costs, which translates to estimated annual savings of $25,000.
    The project has focused on energy education at the middle school, and was funded in part by Tufts. McGlynn is located on Mystic Valley Parkway (Route 16).
    "The students are really the long-term sustainable goal of the project," Patricia Barry, the director of the City of Medford's Energy and the Environment Office told the Daily. Students will hopefully become enthralled with the idea of studying renewable energy or go into fields like meteorology, she added.
    The students at McGlynn, who "absolutely love" the project, will have access to information about the turbine, like the amount of power it generates and wind velocity, with the help of a computer program, Barry said.
    "It is our hope that through this project, we will provide a means for students and citizens to become involved in more sustainable measures, practices and thinking so that we will all be able to work together to create a cleaner, greener more sustainable Medford for our generation and those to follow," she said.
    Tufts' involvement began when Barry met recently with Tufts Community Union President Duncan Pickard and Associate Treasurer Lauren Levine, a sophomore.
    The City of Medford did not have sufficient funding for the full educational program, Barry said. Tufts, he said, has helped establish the program.
    According to Pickard, a junior, Levine had been working on looking for an organization that focuses on environmental sustainability as a target for funds raised by the upcoming Tufts Dance Marathon when Medford city officials told her about the turbine project.
    Money raised for the Dance Marathon will go toward a patio located near the turbine. That patio will feature various learning materials that teachers can utilize in teaching their students about energy conservation and environmental sustainability.
    "I think it's wonderful," Pickard said. "I'm really happy that we're going to be raising money for this. Of course environmental sustainability is something that is very important to Tufts … I think that this is right in line with the work that some student organizations are doing."
    Barry praised the focus on teaching.
    "We are leading by example and then educating the children and we're actually thinking about sustainable measures now," Barry said. "It will pass from generation to generation."
    The turbine's three blades measure 33 feet long and spin around, generating 100 kilowatts of electricity at any given time from wind speeds ranging from 7.8 to 56 miles per hour. The average wind speed was determined to be 11 mph in that area of Medford, according to Maureen McCracken, director of marketing for Vermont-based Northern Power, the company that built the turbine.
    Though the turbine is larger than that used to power small residential buildings, she said, it is still much smaller than those used for commercial or industrial purposes -- for which turbines are commonly used in the Midwest.
    During the planning stage of the project, a city committee conducted investigations all over Medford looking for windy areas that would ideal for a wind turbine, according to Barry. Planners settled on McGlynn.
    From there, Barry successfully secured major grants that made the project possible, including funds from the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust and the Massachusetts Energy Consumers Alliance.
    These funds constituted $400,000 of the total $644,000 cost of the project.
    The remaining funding will come from the school's yearly energy savings and the selling of renewable energy credits.
    The installation of the turbine occurred late in 2008 through the combined efforts of Northern Power and Massachusetts-based Cullen Electrical Contractors.