New approach for organic weed control

Posted at 12:31 PM on May 23, 2012 by Mark Steil (0 Comments)
Filed under: Farms, Research

(Photo courtesy of Dan Humburg, South Dakota State University)

A research scientist in western Minnesota is testing a new approach to weed control for organic farms. His idea is to cut the weeds down with a fine grit propelled through specially designed compressed air nozzles.

U.S. Agriculture Department research agronomist Frank Forcella, based in Morris, said he came up with the concept a few years ago:

"It seemed like a crazy idea," he said. "But it simply wouldn't leave my mind."

Early tests with a hand-held nozzle proved the sandblasting concept worked. But instead of sand, Forcella uses a softer, organic product: ground corn cobs. The material is powerful enough to kill the weeds but not harm young corn, soybean or other plants.

A team at South Dakota State University in Brookings is building a four-row prototype (above). Forcella hopes to begin field testing it later this month.

Organic farmers don't use chemical weed killers, so they largely rely on plowing to keep unwanted plants down. Forcella said if his concept works, farmers may get an added bonus. He said instead of corn cobs, farmers could use nutrient-rich material like ground alfalfa or canola seed meal. Besides killing weeds, the grit would also help fertilize the growing crop.

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Canada may close unique environmental research facility

Posted at 5:28 PM on May 18, 2012 by Dan Gunderson (0 Comments)
Filed under: Research

Photo courtesy Fisheries and Oceans Canada

A decision by the Canadian government to end more than 40 years of unique environmental research has scientists up in arms.

The Experimental Lakes Area in southern Ontario is a place where scientists use dozens of small lakes to perform large scale, real world environmental studies.

The Winnipeg Free Press reports the Canadian federal government wants to eliminate funding for the program.

That dismays Jeff Jeremiason, environmental studies program director for Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, Minn. He conducted his doctoral research in the Experimental Lakes Area in the 1990s.

Jeremisason said the proposal "speaks to the declining value that society places on real science.

"The number of seminal studies conducted at ELA on dozens of environmental issues is astounding," Jeremiason wrote in an email. "Amongst scientists, it is world renowned. Its closing will hamper society's ability to address serious environmental concerns."

A number of University of Minnesota researchers also have done studies at the Canadian facility, said Deborah Swackhamer is co-director of the Water Resources Center at U of M.

She said shutting down the one-of-a-kind research site would be huge loss for science.

"There is not a way to do whole ecosystem scale freshwater research anywhere else in the world," Swackhamer said. "The work done there has been instrumental in our understanding of acid rain to endocrine disruption."

The project apparently won't be shut down without a fight. The Free Press reports provincial officials strongly oppose the budget cuts.

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Loving 'em to death

Posted at 3:18 PM on May 16, 2012 by Dan Gunderson (0 Comments)
Filed under: Environment, Outdoors, Research

MPR photo Dan Gunderson

Minnesota is home to the largest American White Pelican colony in North America.

In 1968 the pelican was nearly extinct in Minnesota, down to one known breeding pair, state Department of Natural Resources researchers say.

Now there are an estimated 50,000 white pelicans in the state. Most of the birds winter in the Gulf of Mexico and return in the spring to raise young.

About 34,000 nest on Marsh Lake, in western Minnesota. On just one island nearly a half mile long and a few hundred feet wide, about 10,000 pelicans nest along with thousands of gulls and cormorants.

It's a bill-to-tail mass of birds and eggs and chicks. You can't take your eyes off the ground while walking because you'll step on a nest.

Researcher Jeff DiMatteo has been to the spot for about 25 years to band young pelicans He worries that the pelican colony is gaining notoriety, and attracting more birding enthusiasts and amateur photographers.

The islands on Marsh Lake are a protected sanctuary.

MPR photo Ann Arbor Miller

Trespassing on the islands can lead to citations and fines, according to Minnesota DNR Non-Game Wildlife Program Supervisor Carrol Henderson.

"Pelican colonies are at a critical stage of nesting right now, with many newly hatched chicks. Only researchers with appropriate permits may visit the island to conduct their studies," Henderson said. "Otherwise, pelicans at this stage of nesting will not tolerate trespassing by photographers or curious members of the public because it can result in the death of young."

MPR photo Dan Gunderson

Researcher Jeff DiMatteo says that's exactly what happened last year at the Marsh Lake Colony. An unidentified photographer paddled out to one of the islands and set up a blind. The parents left their nests and refused to return until the photographer left. Several hundred chicks died as a result. Dimatteo worries growing interest in pelicans will lead people to "love em to death."

To minimize the impact of his research trips to the colony, Dimatteo doesn't spend much time in any one area. He moves slowly to avoid alarming the pelicans.

I also worried about how to record the birds without unnecessary disturbance. Pelicans don't make a lot of noise. To obtain the sound of adults on the nest, I stashed a small recorder among the nests, collecting it when researchers returned to the area an hour later.

There have been cases of pelican colonies abandoned after too much disturbance. A few years ago thousands of pelicans abandoned chicks and eggs at the Chase Lake Refuge in North Dakota. The reason remains unclear. No one knows the limits of the pelicans tolerance for disturbance.

The DNR's Carrol Henderson says people who want to see pelicans should check out a colony on Pigeon Lake near Hutchinson. There is a Highway Scenic Overlook that was provided specifically for birdwatchers to view the colony from a safe distance.

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Do you know Nano?

Posted at 1:57 PM on March 22, 2012 by Dan Gunderson (0 Comments)
Filed under: Education, Research, Technology

Computer chips on the mint marking of a dime show the scale of nano manufacturing. Photo courtesy North Dakota State University

Nanotechnology can be a bit confusing. Just what is it?

Essentially, science, engineering and technology development -- on a very small scale.

To increase public awareness, The Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network is sponsoring a nationwide, week-long public outreach and education effort March 24 to April 1.

Smaller than a virus, Nano particles used in manufacturing and construction are carefully designed to have unique characteristics. Nano materials are found in everything from high-tech electronics to the food we eat, the clothing we wear, the sunscreen we slather on, and medical treatments for diseases like cancer.

Nano research will likely save lives in the future. But some are concerned that the technology could harm human health and the environment.

One thing is certain, nanotech is here and rapidly growing.

Do you know what a nanotube is? How about a fullerene? A buckyball? All are components of nano manufacturing.

For the nano education campaign researchers and science educators are creating exhibits and hands on learning opportunities at more than 200 science museums and universities across the country.

Here's a list of the places in Minnesota participating in Nano Days:

Headwaters Science Center
Duluth Children's Museum
Dakota County Technical College
Science Museum of Minnesota
The Bakken Museum
Minnesota Children's Museum

To find locations in other states, check out this list on the NISE website.

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Spider webs in your computer

Posted at 11:00 AM on March 9, 2012 by Dan Gunderson (0 Comments)
Filed under: Research, Technology

Photo courtesy of the Xinwei Wang research group

An Iowa State University researcher recently made an interesting and unexpected discovery about spider webs. Xinwei Wang discovered the silk spiders use to make their webs conducts heat better than commonly used materials like silicon and aluminum.

It's unusual for biological materials to be good thermal conductors.

In a recently published paper on his research Xinwei Wang wrote, "Our discoveries will revolutionize the conventional thought on the low thermal conductivity of biological materials."

Wang also found that unlike most materials, spider silk transfers even more heat when it's stretched.

The spider silk is much thinner than a human hair, and very strong.

Wang said his research could lead to the creation of flexible, heat-dissipating parts for electronics. It could have applications in other everyday materials like hot weather clothing.

Practical applications might take awhile to develop.

Wang said there's still a lot to be learned about why spider silk is so good at conducting heat, but he thinks it has something to do with proteins that contain nanocrystals and create a molecular structure that's remarkably free of defects.

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Minnesota students compete in robotics competition

Posted at 11:02 AM on February 23, 2012 by Dan Gunderson (0 Comments)
Filed under: Education, Research, Technology

Courtesy VEX Robotics via Flickr

Minnesota students are participating this year for the first time in what organizers call the largest robotics competition in the world.

On Friday, 22 teams of about six students each from schools across northern Minnesota will compete at Northland Community and Technical College in Thief River Falls for a chance to go to the VEX Robotics World Championship later this spring in California.

There are competitions for middle school and high school age students.

By creating a robot to complete a specific task, the students learn about mechanical engineering, sensors, computer programming and problem solving, said NCTC Electronics Technology instructor Andrew Dahlen.

"These are things students don't have a lot of exposure to but really should," he said. "The aim of this entire initiative is to grow student interest in technology."

Last weekend, 23 teams from southern Minnesota met in St. Cloud. A team from Rockville, Minn., won that round of competition making them eligible for the championship in California where thousands of students from more than 20 countries compete.

The competition happens on a 12' by 12' mat. Students must move the robot around obstacles to complete tasks like picking up balls or barrels and putting them in a container. The teams receive robotics kits at the beginning of the year, and work for several months on the design.

The idea behind the competition is to increase student interest in science, technology and math.

The event is funded by the 360 Center for Applied Engineering and Manufacturing and corporate sponsors.

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Mayo researchers study cost of underage drinking

Posted at 5:22 PM on February 16, 2012 by Elizabeth Baier (0 Comments)
Filed under: Healthcare, Research, Southeast Minnesota

(Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images)

Mayo Clinic researchers estimate the hospitalization costs for underage drinking in the United States is about $755 million a year, according to a study published this week in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Researchers found the largest part of this expense, or approximately $505 million, goes toward treatment. They also say underage drinking can also lead to other destructive behavior as well as a greater dependence on alcohol in adulthood.

"When teenagers drink, they tend to drink excessively, leading to many destructive consequences including motor vehicle accidents, injuries, homicides and suicides," said Dr. Terry Schneekloth, a Mayo Clinic addiction expert and psychiatrist, in a statement. "Harmful alcohol use in adolescence is a harbinger of alcohol abuse in adulthood."

Young people who start drinking before the age of 15 years are five times more likely to develop alcohol dependence or abuse later in life than those who begin drinking at or after age 21 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control, which describes underage alcohol use "a major public health problem."

Youth aged 12 to 20 years drink 11 percent of all alcohol consumed in the United States, and more than 90 percent of this is consumed in the form of binge drinking, according to the CDC.

Mayo researchers also found geographic and demographic differences in the incidence of alcohol-related hospital admissions. The study shows the average age of alcohol-related hospitalization was 18 and 61 percent of those young people hospitalized were male.

Mayo's study also shows hospitalization is more common in the Northeast and Midwest and lowest in the South.

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Will the next oil boom be nano-sized?

Posted at 11:56 AM on February 15, 2012 by Dan Gunderson (1 Comments)
Filed under: Research

Electron microscope image of oil shale (Photo courtesy of Kalpana Katti)

The United States has massive deposits of petroleum locked in shale. Government estimates are there are two trillion barrels of oil, and perhaps 800 billion barrels could be recovered. That's about three times the oil reserves of Saudi Arabia.

The problem is finding an efficient way to get that petroleum out of the rock. It's a challenge that's frustrated scientists for decades.

Two North Dakota State University researchers are taking a different approach to the problem, and they believe the key to extracting oil from shale is in understanding the material at the nano scale.

Nano is breaking materials down to the molecular level and manipulating those tiny building blocks. Many nano materials are being studied and developed, but nature also creates nano materials.

Oil shale isn't really oil or shale. The rock is made up of very hard minerals like quartz and it contains a waxy organic substance called kerogen. The kerogen will naturally turn into oil after millions of years of exposure to heat and pressure in the earth.

If the kerogen can be extracted from the rock it can be refined into crude oil. Most efforts to extract kerogen involve heating the rock until the kerogen vaporizes. The problem is that process uses more energy than is recovers.

Oil shale sample from 500 feet below the surface (Courtesy of Kalpana Katti)

The husband wife team of Kalpana and Dinesh Katti are taking a different approach.

Dinesh Katti is a civil engineering professor at NDSU who works with molecular computer modeling.

Kalpana Katti is a distinguished professor in the Civil Engineering Department who studies nano scale materials. She essentially takes things apart and rebuilds them at the molecular level. A couple of years ago she started looking at oil shale and discovered the kerogen in the rock is nano sized. At 10 to 20 nanometers it's a little smaller than a virus.

"Nanometer kerogen was a huge surprise, said Kalpana Katti. "That was not in the scientific literature, that was a very wow moment."

"That changes the whole thing," adds Dinesh Katti.

And here's why. Researchers are increasingly understanding that at the nano scale, materials have different properties.

In the case of oil shale, it means the nanoscale kerogen bonds with the minerals in the rock. That's why it's so difficult to remove.

The Kattis discovered different characteristics in different locations on the kerogen molecules. It's like a ball with velcro in one spot, a magnet in another. Different things will stick to each spot. So each Kerogen molecule could have attraction to nearly a dozen different minerals.

"If we can get a good understanding of the energy connection between the kerogen and the minerals, we might be able to get in between with some other molecules," said Dinesh Katti.

The Kattis plan to use computer modeling to find the best way to break the bonds between kerogen and minerals, freeing the petroleum from the rock.

They say the solution needs to be cost effective and environmentally friendly. It could be an enzyme, or a chemical, or a combination.

Dinesh Katti offers an over simplified analogy. "If you have a pan with food dried on it's very difficult to clean. But soak it in water and the dried food is easily removed."

The next big step is looking to pharmaceutical and biomedical research for molecules that might break the bonds between kerogen and minerals.

They'll run computer simulations to identify the best options, and test those in the lab.

Kalpana Katti said it won't be easy or quick because of the complex interactions happening at the nano scale.

Their research hasn't received much funding, just a $150,000 Department of Energy seed grant that helped buy some new lab equipment.

But Dinesh and Kalpana Katti both say they are very confident the nano scale is the right place to solve a problem that has stymied researchers for decades.

"Of course you never a guarantee a solution will happen, but based on what we have learned I have a high degree of optimism," Dinesh Katti said. "We might find the best way, or maybe somebody else will use our research to find the answer."

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Work continues on neutrino lab near International Falls

Posted at 10:59 AM on February 3, 2012 by Tom Robertson (0 Comments)
Filed under: Arrowhead, International Falls, Northwest Minnesota, Research, Technology

Scientists are gearing up for construction this spring of a 15,000-ton neutrino particle detector that will be housed in a facility on the Ash River Trail, about 40 miles southeast of International Falls.

The detector will be part of a scientific investigation into the role of subatomic particles in the origin of the universe, according to a story in the The Journal newspaper in International Falls.

The lab is part of the University of Minnesota's School of Physics and Astronomy. The detector will be on the receiving end of particles shot through the earth from the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill. The Ash River site was selected because it's the furthest possible location in the United States that's in a direct line from the Illinois lab.

Researchers say the new facility will expand the University of Minnesota's international reputation as a leader in neutrino research. The university also operates the Soudan Underground Laboratory near Tower, Minn.

Project spokesman Gary Feldman, a Harvard University professor, told The Journal the facility itself is now finished and preparations have begun to build the detector. Construction will begin in April and is expected to continue over the next year and a half.

Lab officials are now in the hiring phase. There's currently a crew of 14, but the construction team will grow to 40 by this spring.

Here's a Fermilab report that explains the scientific goals of the project.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provided more than $40 million for the project.

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U of M to focus on consumer behavior and environment

Posted at 11:50 AM on December 15, 2011 by David Cazares (0 Comments)
Filed under: Environment, Research

By Stephanie Hemphill

The University of Minnesota is setting up a sustainability initiative to help businesses and government agencies learn how to encourage consumer behavior that's good for the environment.

Akshay Rao, General Mills Chair in Marketing at the Carlson School of Management, said researchers who study human behavior have something to offer any organization that wants to market earth-friendly products or actions. He's recruiting corporations and government agencies to join a consortium that would oversee research to make such marketing more successful.

Research would be conducted both at the U of M other universities.

Rao said many corporations are already interested in the idea.

"People are experimenting with little ways of changing behavior, wondering why some things work and some things don't," he said.

As an example, he cited smiley-faces that utility companies attach to their customers' bills to encourage energy conservation. Some research has shown they work to prevent high achievers from cutting back on their energy-saving efforts. But it also indicated the approach doesn't work so well with Republicans.

Rao said his goal is to find approaches that work for everyone. Besides bringing academic rigor to corporate experiments, he hopes to answer a fundamental question:

"What is it we can find that is so fundamental about human behavior that it will lead people, regardless of their ideological preferences, to act in a manner that is beneficial to the planet?"

Rao said most money for sustainability initiatives goes toward developing new technologies.

"To make sure there is a viable market for new 'green' technologies, we must understand underlying consumer beliefs and behaviors associated with the adoption and use of those technologies," he said.

Rao is aiming for an endowment of up to $10 million. So far, Wells Fargo has contributed $250,000 to the project.

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Invasive species aren't always pests

Posted at 12:03 PM on December 1, 2011 by Dan Kraker (4 Comments)
Filed under: Around MN, Arrowhead, Environment, Research, Water

The havoc that aquatic invasive species like zebra mussels have wreaked on the Great Lakes and beyond has been well documented. They reproduce faster than rabbits, suck up plankton off lake floors, starving native species, and clog water intake pipes.

Zebra mussels, along with nasty critters like sea lamprey and those great flopping river acrobats Asian carp, have given invasive species a bad rap -- often very deservedly so. But new research suggests that the most recent Great Lakes invader may actually help their new home.

The "bloody red shrimp" was discovered in Lake Michigan in 2006. They've spread to all of the Great Lakes except Lake Superior. Like zebra mussels, they likely hitched a ride from the Black and Caspian seas in eastern Europe in the ballast tanks of ocean-going freighters. Requirements for ships to exchange ballast water at sea have since slowed the introduction of non-native species to the Great Lakes.

New research shows that the little crustacean, so named for its bright red spots, has become food for native species like yellow perch and alewife.

Mike Yuille, a graduate student at Ontario's Queens University, tells UPI that "forecasting how an invader will affect the growth and production of a specific native fish species is very relevant to conservation groups and government agencies hoping to conserve those fish." Yuille's findings will be published in the Journal of Great Lakes Research.

But the relationships among native and non-native species are complex. Yuille's research also suggests that round gobies have incorporated the shrimp into their diet. Gobies are another aquatic invasive species, also brought over to the Great Lakes from far eastern Europe in ballast water.

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Glow-in-the-dark cats help with AIDS research

Posted at 2:46 PM on September 12, 2011 by Elizabeth Baier (0 Comments)
Filed under: Healthcare, Research, Southeast Minnesota

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester are using glow-in-the-dark cats in the fight against AIDS.

The clinic announced Sunday that researchers have developed a genome-based immunization strategy to fight feline AIDS and find ways to combat human HIV/AIDS and other diseases.

Researchers said the goal is to create cats with intrinsic immunity to the feline AIDS virus. The findings appear in the current online issue of Nature Methods.

"One of the best things about this biomedical research is that it is aimed at benefiting both human and feline health," said Eric Poeschla, M.D., a Mayo molecular biologist and leader of the international study, in a statement. "It can help cats as much as people."

Mayo researchers paired a gene from a fluorescent jellyfish to track another gene, called rhesus macaque restriction factor. The former gene makes the offspring cats glow green and the latter is known to resist the development of the feline AIDS virus.

Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) causes AIDS in cats as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) does in people: by depleting the body's infection-fighting T-cells. This was the first time this method succeeded in a carnivore, according to Mayo.

Researchers aimed to mimic the way evolution normally gives rise over vast time spans to protective protein versions.

The method for inserting genes into the feline genome is highly efficient, so that virtually all offspring have the genes, according to Mayo. And the defense proteins are made throughout the cat's body. Mayo officials said the cats with the protective genes are thriving and have produced kittens whose cells make the proteins, thus proving that the inserted genes remain active in successive generations.

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Mayo receives $20 million to evaluate health care delivery

Posted at 12:45 PM on September 8, 2011 by Elizabeth Baier (1 Comments)
Filed under: Healthcare, Research, Southeast Minnesota

Two longtime Mayo Clinic benefactors have donated $20 million to help launch the Clinic's new Center for Science of Health Care Delivery.

The donation came from Robert and Patricia Kern, a Wisconsin couple who has visited the Rochester Clinic since 1930.

Their contribution will jump start the new center that will focus on creating, evaluating and implementing approaches to deliver high-value care.

Robert Kern is the founder and owner of Generac Power Systems, a generator manufacturer based in Waukesha, Wis. The company produces industrial, commercial and residential power generators.

In a statement, Robert Kern said Mayo has been an important part of his family for many decades.

"We admire their culture of putting the needs of the patient first, and we are honored to join with them to lead the transformation of health care," Kern said.

The $20 million donation will be used to hire staff, build space and help open the Center for of Health Care Delivery, according to Clinic officials.

The goal of the center will be to identify the most efficient and effective best practices in the diagnosis, treatment and care of patients.

The center will be located in the Harwick Building on Mayo Clinic's downtown Rochester campus.

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DNR asks bear hunters not to shoot radio-collared bears

Posted at 2:04 PM on August 26, 2011 by Tom Robertson (0 Comments)
Filed under: Arrowhead, Environment, Northwest Minnesota, Outdoors, Research

Researchers with the state Department of Natural Resources monitor about 35 radio-collared black bears in northern Minnesota, and they're asking people heading out for the bear hunting opener Sept. 1 to be careful not to shoot them.

Most of the radio-collared bears are in northwest Minnesota, especially near Thief Lake Wildlife Management Area and the Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge. But researchers are also keeping track of bears in the Chippewa National Forest, Voyageurs National Park, Camp Ripley, the Cloquet Forestry Station and near the Eagles Nest chain of lakes in northern St. Louis County.

The bears are marked with large colorful ear tags or colorful streamers.

DNR bear research biologist Dave Garshelis said he hopes hunters will be especially vigilant, because the state has a lot of money invested in the collared bears.

"These animals provide long-term data on reproduction and habitat use that is invaluable for bear management across the state," Garshelis said. "Researchers have invested an enormous amount of time and expense in these individuals."

Many of the collars have global positioning units that collect and store data, which is downloaded by researchers when they visit the bears in their dens.

Shooting a collared bear isn't necessarily illegal. DNR officials say they recognize that hunters might not see a tag or collar in some situations.

Hunters who accidentally shoot a collared bear should call the DNR's Wildlife Research office in Grand Rapids at 218-327-4146.

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The pending mobility crisis?

Posted at 10:24 AM on June 20, 2011 by Michael Olson (1 Comments)
Filed under: Arrowhead, Research

Within the next four years nearly a quarter million Minnesota seniors will be living in areas with little to no access to public transportation. That's finding is part of a new analysis by the Center for Neighborhood Technology.

The Alexandria Echo Press provides some added context.

"The aging rural population is starting to explode, we are just seeing the beginnings of it," says Pam Smith, Marketing/Public Relations Coordinator of Arrowhead Transit, a nonprofit provider the report calls a model of best practices, using "effectively coordinated transportation services" which improves "service productivity and reduces costs by eliminating overlapping, duplicative and inefficient operations."

Without access to affordable travel options, seniors age 65 and older who no longer drive make 15 percent fewer trips to the doctor, 59 percent fewer trips to shop or eat out, and 65 percent fewer trips to visit friends and family, than drivers of the same age, research shows. As the cost of owning and fuelling a vehicle rises, many older Americans who can still drive nonetheless will be looking for lower-cost options.

The scenario is particularly bad for Duluth. Click the maps below for a larger view.

Each map is color-coded at the Census block group level to show both the intensity of public transportation - whether "poor," "moderate" or "good" levels of service - and the density of seniors. By combining both variables into one scale, these maps show how "aging in place" creates a dramatic mismatch between transit services and senior demand. The first map for each case study overlays the population over 64 with areas of poor transit access in the year 2000. The second map shows the population age 65-79 projected to have poor transit access in 2015.

Transit Access for Seniors Age 65-79 in 2015

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Students design energy efficient home for State Fair display

Posted at 11:31 AM on May 6, 2011 by Dan Gunderson (0 Comments)
Filed under: Education, Environment, Research

Courtesy NDSU

In a special preview today, 22 architecture students at North Dakota State University architecture will unveil their designs for a passive energy home they will build at this year's Minnesota State Fair.

Passive houses can achieve energy savings of 80 percent or greater.

The structure will be designed to be the size of a four person cabin you might find in the northern Minnesota woods. According to Design Build Studio instructor Malini Srivastava, it will be heated by the equivalent of six light bulbs.

Passive homes take advantage of passive heat sources such as the heat generated by its occupants, the waste heat from appliances, passive heat from the earth, and solar heat.

Srivastava said the student project will be the first passive house to be displayed at the Minnesota State Fair. It will be part of the Eco-Experience exhibit.

The structure will be built to meet international passive house performance criteria.

Students in the Design Build program at NDSU will plan the structure over the summer and build it at the state fair this fall.

The students will show their designs from 1:30 to 8 p.m. in Renaissance Hall, 650 NP Avenue, Fargo.

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University researches wind energy

Posted at 2:12 PM on April 27, 2011 by Mark Steil (0 Comments)
Filed under: Research

A University of Minnesota research projects hopes to find ways to increase the efficiency of wind turbines.

Funded by an $8 million grant from the Department of Energy, researchers will put up a brand new 2.5 megawatt turbine at UMore Park in Rosemount. Construction is underway on the project which should be operational in early August, University of Minnesota Civil Engineering Professor Fotis Sotiropoulos said.

Sotiropoulos said researchers will use the machine to find ways to make wind turbines more efficient, to help them squeeze more power out of every puff of wind. He said one approach is to reduce air drag on turbine blades.

Researchers are experimenting with a film made by the 3M Corp. that has tiny grooves in its surface. The film has already been shown to reduce drag on airplane wings.

The film also has shown promise for turbine blades in wind tunnel experiments at the University's St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, said Sotiropoulos, the lab's director. He said the tests show the film reduces drag on the blades.

The next step is to try the 3M film on the UMore Park turbine once it's operational.

Aother experiment will be to try to find a coating which prevents ice buildup on wind turbine blades. Sotiropoulos said that would also help reduce drag and make the machines more efficient.

The federal grant is part of the Department of Energy's efforts to find ways to generative more electricity from alternative sources.

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