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By NOAA
Published: November 13, 2009
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NOAA Fisheries’ research facility in Juneau has sprouted a wind-powered electrical generator on top of its tall roof. The 30’ foot spinning tower is the latest in a string of energy-saving improvements, with more in the works for NOAA’s Juneau buildings.

A total of three generators will eventually grace the skyline at Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute on Lena Point and plus one in downtown Juneau at the NOAA port facility. The downtown generator is scheduled to be erected next week.

Each generator, made by Mariah Power, costs $6,500 and will produce 1.2 kilowatts of electricity. Called ‘wind spires’ they each have three sets of three vertical blades set in a vertical tubular shape which spins silently when the wind blows.

“NOAA studies ecosystems and the environment. It’s logical that we would aim to fit into our own ecosystem as efficiently and respectfully as possible. If the electrical energy we use comes cleanly with low impacts from Juneau’s abundant rainfall through hydropower and from Juneau’s winds through wind generators, that’s a goal reached,” said Doug DeMaster, director of NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center.

The wind spires are outside and will be easy to see when they are all standing. But deep inside the Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute, facilities manager Jack Christiansen, maintenance mechanics Tommy Abbas and Gordon Garcia, and maintenance assistant Mike Anderson have also led an effort to make the research facility greener.

“Through a series of modifications to our mechanical systems, we have been able to reduce facility diesel fuel consumption by over 50 percent from about 120,000 gallons per year to under 50,000 gallons per year,” said Christiansen. “Once the heat pump system is completed diesel consumption will be less than 25,000 gallons per year, for a total reduction of 75%.”

The heat pump system that is currently being installed by Abbas will utilize heat exchangers to extract heat from sea water that from the wet labs in both the NOAA and University buildings before it runs back into Favorite Channel.

“The heat extracted from the out-going seawater will heat the lobby and laboratories of our building unless the temperature dips below five degrees Farenheit,” said Christiansen.

But the facilities staff has also been paying attention to smaller scale efforts. For instance, they have installed a heat exchanger in a room that is full of compressors, fans and refrigeration units. The noisy machinery heats the air of the room, and the heat exchanger extracts that heat to be used elsewhere in warming the building. Another example is ‘right-sizing’ laboratory ventilation, where a careful review of the building specifications yielded modifications that substantially decreased the demands on the air exchange system in a number of laboratory spaces.

By similar efforts throughout the large building, air exchange demand was reduced by almost 10,000 cubic feet per minute, allowing the elimination of one of three lab air handling units.  In fact, the first wind generator was installed where the eliminated air handling unit had been located, providing a symbolic illustration of NOAA’s initiative to reduce inefficiency and increase ‘green’ power.   

The wind generators themselves are fairly small scale: they will produce only a small portion of the energy required at the NOAA facilities where they are installed. But NOAA facilities staff believe they will pay for themselves in about 12 years, and know they will be a good test of small-scale wind generation in Alaska. Wind generators would pay off faster in an area with higher winds and higher energy costs—a good description of many of Alaska’s remote areas.

source: NOAA press release
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