I would like to ask a few questions to the Sierra Student Coalition and the Sierra Club in reference to the ad on the back page of the Tuesday, Oct. 20 Collegiate Times (PDF of the Oct. 20 edition).
Is water “Too Dirty” for you? Because superheated water vapor is exactly what that picture shows leaving the parabolic structures photographed. Those structures are simply cooling towers, not smokestacks as you wish others to believe.
It is very upsetting that the Sierra Student Coalition would distort that picture in order to slant the unknowing audience toward its cause.
Speaking of its cause, does the Sierra Club have a plan for providing heat to the campus if it was to stop using coal tomorrow, next month or even next year? (Only about 6 percent of the campus electricity is generated by the Virginia Tech Power Plant.) What would the freshmen think
if you took away their heating for the Blacksburg winter? Do you plan to build a wind farm on the Drillfield to run resident hall heat pumps? Want to solely use biofuels in our power plant? Neither is even close to coming to fruition. With our current VTPP equipment, as with any cogeneration operation, we could only burn up to 20 percent biomass because of the lower heat content and the destructive properties of the alkaline gases in biofuels. Along with the Tech Energy and Sustainability Committee, I would love to know your plan. Let’s talk money, tuition in particular. If the Sierra Club would like to use biofuels, renovate VTPP and/or build a new heating infrastructure for the entire campus, who will pay for it? We, the student body, will. Replacing the campus heating/electrical infrastructure right now is an absurd task to undertake because of the state budget cuts and the economic downturn.
Our campus is just a small-scale version of our country’s dependence on coal. I’d like to find an alternate energy source too, but it cannot and will not happen overnight. I’m a huge fan of nuclear power because of the efficiency and zero carbon emission the process entails. But try to get that past Obama’s White House.
The Sierra Student Coalition wants to end coal, and that’s great. But instead of attacking the current lifeline of American energy, why don’t you provide solutions, honest interpretations of photos and an understanding of your environmental, engineering and budgetary constraints. My mom always said, “You catch more flies with honey,” so please refrain from the perversion you chose to portray in your advertisement. Just like Barack, I believe your coalition has huge potential in the future.
H. George Rau
senior mechanical engineering major
chair, VT American Society of ME