About Us - Sustainability

At Calvin, professors and students alike have a desire to create and implement sustainable energy and living habits. We strive to do this through various research and class projects.

Recently, Calvin College and specifically the Engineering Department have become very involved with sustainable energy. There are a few professors who do a lot of research on the topic, and there is also an Engineering organization that is active in sustainable energy and specifically wind power.

Renewable Energy Organization

The Renewable Energy Organization is an Engineering Department organization which concentrates on renewable energy for Calvin's campus. Their most recent work can be seen in the wind turbine that is now working on Calvin's campus. To find more information on the REO, visit their web site at, http://knightvision.calvin.edu/bbcswebdav/orgs/
Renewable_Energy_org/reo/index.html.

Wind Turbine

Recently, the Renewable Energy Organization at Calvin installed a small wind turbine on Calvin's campus to begin towards the goal of using renewable energy at Calvin. To see more specifics on the wind turbine, visit http://wind.calvin.edu.

Solar Panels

Another form of renewable energy that Calvin has is solar energy. Calvin currently has two solar panels on campus.
One of those solar panel systems is at the Bunker Interpretive Center. This project was done by a 2003-04 Sr. Design team. This team received a grant from the state of Michigan for their work on the solar panel. For more information on this source of energy, visit http://solar.calvin.edu or http://www.calvin.edu/academic/engineering/
senior-design/SeniorDesign03-04/Team05/.
In the 2002-03 school year, the "Just Add Sunlight" Sr. Design team worked on placing a solar panel on the roof of Calvin's Science Building. This team also received a grant from the state of Michigan for their work.

Geothermal

In addition to the other Sr. Design projects that have been done in the area of sustainability, one of the 2008 teams worked on a project in the area of Geothermal Systems. To view the team's project, visit their web site at http://knightvision.calvin.edu/bbcswebdav/orgs/
ENGR/senior-projects/2007-08/Team04/index.html

Interim 2008

During Interim '08, Dr. Paulo Ribeiro, fresh from his sabbatical leave, has once again motivated students to apply what they are learning to the real world. The course, Electrical Power and Energy Systems Management Systems, introduced students to real world problems. Besides learning the analytical basis of power and energy systems and the consequent environmental impact, and using professional stat-of-the-art computational tools, the students worked on several real life projects in the Grand Rapids area. These included:

A Feasibility Study for Wind Power Generation at Belknap Lookout. This project is being developed with the support of the Newberry Co-Housing Community,

A Feasibility Study for the Recovery of a Small Hydro Power Station at the City of Plainwell, Michigan. This project is being developed with the support of the City of Plainwell. To read more about this project go to http://www.allegannews.com/articles/2008/02/14/ue_news/4.txt

Other projects include Learning about Grid Operations with the support of Consumers Energy, analytical studies regarding Distributed Generation and Micro-Grids, and Nuclear Power Assessment.

Students visited the sites, talked to managers and engineers and collected the data necessary to produce the analyses. Since the studies may take longer than the class period the projects will be extended to the end of the summer. The reality however is that the students will be exposed and attempt to solve real world power and energy engineering problems.

Look for this poster in the hall outside Prof. Ribeiro's Office for a summary of what took place.

Faculty Research & Professional Experience

Here at Calvin, our faculty is very involved in research in the area of sustainable energy. Listed are the research interests of each professor.

	Dr. Matthew Heun Renewable Energy Systems Low cost refrigeration systems for developing countries Balloon and lighter-than-air vehicle system design and optimization Biological analogs for robotic group behavior Passive trajectory control for stratospheric balloon systems Thermal systems optimization Survivable systems for planetary exploration Classroom Projects Off-grid - Engr. 333A, Fall '04 Calvin College Energy Savings Analysis - Engr. 333B, Fall '04 Wind Turbine - Engr. 333, Fall '06 Carbon Neutral Project Engr. 382 - Engineering Instrumentation Laboratory CEAP Prof. Heun's CEAP Keynote Speech
	Dr. Paulo Ribeiro Power Quality Power Electronics Energy Storage Superconducting Magnetic Energy Systems (SMES) Energy Conservation Sustainable Energy Systems
	Dr. J. Aubrey Sykes Materials Recycling Systems: Technology, Political, Economic and Social Challenges Environmental Ecology Environmental Processes Water Production and Treatment Air Pollution and Remediation Hazard Waste Management and Treatment Sustainable and Renewable Energy Options Energy Efficiency; combined cycles, "trash" fuels Energy Conversion Processes Unique Energy Resources; Solar, Wind, Hydropower incl. Waves/Tides Carbon Dioxide Recovery and Conversion Bio-mass Energy Processes Advanced materials; nano-scale, esp. optic and electronic Management of Technology and Innovation Technology Strategy and Policy Innovation Estate Management (Patents, Trade Secrets) Competitive Positioning; Core Competencies, Strategic Thrusts
	Dr. Jennifer VanAntwerp Biotechnology, particularly protein engineering
	Prof. David Wunder Drinking water quality and treatment with student research assistants Wastewater treatment Anaerobic digestion of solids/residuals Hydraulic/hydrologic system modeling and optimization