Northern Michigan University was ahead of its time when it started giving out laptops to students in the 1990s--and it's taking another step in to the future with the latest addition to the laptop program.
Northern students will have the option in the fall of recharging their laptops with green energy, provided by solar panels and a wind turbine--at least while they're in the Jacobetti Center.
The alternative energy charging station is thanks to the efforts of engineering technology professor Michael Martin, who pursued and won two grants to support the project. The
Wisconsin Energy Foundation gave $1,000 toward the station, while the NMU Wildcat Innovation Fund provided almost $5,000.
The green energy was already available on campus, but wasn't being used.
"The solar panels and wind turbine have been on the Jacobetti roof for several years, but they have only been connected to monitoring equipment," says Martin. "We lacked the infrastructure to make use of the electricity."
Martin, along with students in the alternative energy minor program, will connect and install equipment in the Jacobetti commons area that will control and direct the energy into a laptop recharging station.
He says the installation will happen this summer, but the laptop station won't be fully operational until the fall, because the roof on the Jacobetti Center is being replaced this summer, and the solar panels and wind turbine will need to be taken down to allow that to happen.
Writer: Sam Eggleston
Source: Michael Martin, Northern Michigan University
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