Duquesne University Switches To Pennsylvania Wind Power

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For several years now, Duquesne University has used a cogeneration plant driven by waste heat from its heating and cooling facility to cover 80 percent of its electricity needs. The remaining 20 percent was supplemented through wind power. About one third of that wind power was generated in Pennsylvania, the rest was from out of state.

Starting this month, the university has switched to getting all of that wind energy from sources within Pennsylvania. That energy plan, said university officials, makes the campus unique.

“The fact that we generate and capture that energy that’s usually wasted up the stack, we capture that, so our process is 70 percent efficient, compared to power plants that are only 35 percent efficient,” said George Fecik, executive director of facilities management at Duquesne.

Read more: http://www.essentialpublicradio.org/story/2011-12-19/duquesne-university-switches-pennsylvania-wind-power-9729