September 2008 Archives

Today the St. Louis Rams, 0-3 so far this season, pin their hopes on switching to a new starting quarterback in the effort to notch the first win of the season. A victory could not only lift the spirits of Rams fans, but could also put a little more money into the pockets of St. Louisans.

According to some recent research by Michael C. Davis, associate professor of economics at Missouri S&T, and Christian End, a former member of the S&T faculty who now teaches at Xavier University in Ohio, a winning NFL team can have a statistically significant effect on a metro area's personal income. David Nicklaus of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch discussed the research in a recent column.

Missouri S&T researchers Elizabeth Cudney and Katie Grantham Lough are trying to help businesses figure out how to make lean and green manufacturing work together.

The so-called lean manufacturing movement of the 80s and 90s was concerned with eliminating waste and costs from processes. But today our society is as concerned with environmental issues as economics (although that could change, given the current state of the U.S. economy). Companies want to board the green bandwagon -- either by reducing their environmental impact, selling products billed as "green" or simply revamping their corporate image as an environmentally friendly company.

But there's a problem. Some companies still equate "green" with spending a lot of green. According to Cudney and Grantham Lough,it doesn't have to be that way. In a couple of weeks, they'll present their case for a lean, green manufacturing machine at an Institute of Industrial Engineers conference in Minneapolis. This news release has more information about their ideas.

Related: companies interested in cutting costs and saving energy ought to get in touch with S&T alumna Beth Burka, who founded Energy Matters Inc. a few years ago.

Last Thursday's Greenfest presentation by Gene Whitney, who consults with Congress on environmental matters, was billed as a discussion on climate change, energy and water resources. But Whitney spent most of his time talking about energy -- and rightly so, as that's what's on everyone's minds these days -- he did touch on the other two topics. Unfortunately, he didn't say enough about the threatening water resources crisis, other than to call it a "train wreck" that few people in politics, government or the private sector are talking about.

One person who is talking about water issues, and has been for some time, is Missouri S&T alumnus Gary White, the executive director and co-founder of WaterPartners International. The WaterPartners website has a good section listing important facts about global water issues, as well as a section with the latest news about global water issues.

One of the biggest hurdles to overcome when addressing water policies, Whitney says, is that nobody knows just how big the problem is. Water resources are managed on the local level, and no federal agency like the Department of Energy exists that can collect and monitor data about water usage. If we had good data, then Whitney would be able to share some eye-opening tidbits about water resources similar to these about energy:

• The U.S. consumes a billion tons of coal annually -- enough that, if placed into trains of 100 coal cars, each carrying 100 tons of coal, it would take 274 of those trains every day, or 19 trains per minute, to transport our coal.
• The U.S. consumes 7.5 billion barrels of oil a year. That's 21 million barrels a day. Assuming Arrowhead Stadium, where the Kansas City Chiefs play, holds 1 million barrels, then U.S. consumption of oil would fill 21 Arrowhead Stadiums each day.

Those kinds of comparisons quickly grab our attention.

What can we say about water? According to the U.N.'s World Water Day website (did you know there was such a day? I didn't, unt)

On the topic of energy, Whitney said that whoever is elected president will have to be the champion to lead us toward a less fossil-fuel-dependent energy system. The problem is so big it requires that type of leadership, he said.

And while some politicians and pundits claim the nation needs to address energy just as it did with the Apollo program or the Manhattan Project, Whitney said those comparisons are misguided. Both Apollo and Manhattan projects were government-sponsored with a clear outcome in mind that had to do with a race against a known enemy. (For the Manhattan Project, the goal was to develop an atomic bomb before the Germans did. For Apollo, it was to beat the Soviets to the Moon.) This time, there is no discernable "enemy" (unless one considers OPEC to be the enemy, but that doesn't take the larger issue into account). Moreover, this time the private sector must be a part of the solution.

Algae could be Missouri's newest power plant, if a research project by Missouri S&T, Lincoln University and two Missouri electric cooperatives proves effective.

The research project, unveiled today at a press conference in Jefferson City, Mo., involves capturing CO2 emissions from power plants to grow algae, which in turn would be converted into biofuel. Dr. Paul Nam, assistant professor of chemistry, is leading Missouri S&T's part of the project.

Forbes and the Kansas City Star have the story, and Associated Electric Cooperative Inc has the official news release. Central Electric Power Cooperative is also funding the research, which will be based at Central's Chamois Power Plant east of Jefferson City on the Missouri River.

According to the news release, staff members at the Chamois plant have been creating power using biomass materials for more than five years. The plant has used corn cobs, walnut shells and old railroad ties to produce power. These days, the Chamois staff is experimenting with burning turkey processing sludge with coal to produce electricity.

Missouri S&T researchers' expertise in understanding the nation's power grid -- and their work to improve energy delivery -- will play a big part in creating an "Internet for energy" in the future. Today, the National Science Foundation announced that Missouri S&T is one of seven universities to make up a new research center to transform the nation’s century-old, centralized power grid into an alternative-energy-friendly network.

The NSF’s Energy Research Center for Future Renewable Electric Energy Delivery and Management (FREEDM) Systems will be led by North Carolina State University and includes four other U.S. universities, as well as universities in Germany and Switzerland.

The program is supported through a five-year, $18.5 million grant from NSF. Missouri S&T's part of the research will be directed by Mariesa Crow, the Fred W. Finley Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Missouri S&T and director of the university’s Energy Research and Development Center. “Our university has a long tradition of excellence in power engineering, and our expertise in that area, combined with our emphasis on addressing the pressing energy issues of our time, allow us to make unique contributions to this research effort.”

Read more about the new center, or read about some of the work Crow and her colleagues are already doing to plug in to this new approach to electrical power.