“The energy crisis has just started, and we’re not going to easily get out of it. Renewable energy is one of our best solutions.”
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – Alabama may not yet be at the forefront of the renewable energy movement, but an Alabama A&M University mechanical engineering professor isn’t waiting around.
Dr. Showkat Chowdhury, who’s been teaching mechanical engineering at A&M for the past dozen years, has launched a new series of courses this fall term aimed at getting engineering students geared up in the basics of renewable energy technology.
Funded by a $300,000 National Science Foundation grant, the two new courses will ground A&M engineering students in the growing renewable energy field. They include:
- ME 441 Renewable Energy, a survey course touching on all renewable technologies: solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, and hydroelectric.
- ME 442, offered in Spring 2015, will take a deeper plunge into solar thermal, solar photovoltaic (i.e. solar electricity) and wind power.
Both courses will have additional work options for graduate students.
Chowdhury says the energy situation in the U.S. is bad and getting worse.
“The energy crisis has just started, and we’re not going to easily get out of it. Renewable energy is one of our best solutions.”
About $100,000 of the grant has been used to buy renewable energy research equipment to support the course and Chowdhury’s ongoing research. A six-foot long wind tunnel will allow various windmill scenarios to be tested.
“We can change the number of blades, the pitch of the blades, and wind velocity.”
A unique solar testing device will allow researchers and 15 student assistants to study how changes in solar radiation intensity and electrical loads affect solar energy output and efficiency.
Chowdhury heads a energy research team consisting of himself as principle researcher assisted by his wife Tamara and fellow A&M engineering professor Dr. Wing Chen.
Alabama A&M professor leading the charge in renewable energy
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