Wind-powered generator and designer Ryan Wotipka
UTSA student wins energy leadership award for generator
(Dec. 16, 2004)--Ryan Wotipka, a UTSA architecture student graduating this weekend, received the University Energy Leadership Award Wednesday at San Antonio's 2004 Emissions Reduction and Energy Leadership Summit for a wind-powered generator he built from spare parts. The generator will provide 40 percent of the power for a school in the Mexican state of Chihuahua.
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RSS FeedsAs part of a group of UTSA students studying the architecture of a Chihuahuan village, Wotipka's group encountered a school with an unreliable power source. After returning to UTSA, the group wrote a paper about the experience, but Wotipka wanted to go further. Subsequently, he built a windmill-style generator from car parts, an old antenna tower, scrap wood and magnets to provide a renewable energy source for the village.
The village has asked Wotipka to install his generator at the school in addition to a septic system he also designed. The new septic system is already in place.
The summit is hosted annually by the Metropolitan Partnership for Energy and the Texas A&M University System's Energy Systems Laboratory. The purpose of the competition is to encourage energy efficiency in local schools through student projects that save energy and educate others on the economic and environmental benefits of conserving energy.