"So long as we are under the illusion that we know what is good for the earth and for ourselves, then we will continue our present course, with its devastation consequences on the entire Earth community."

- Thomas Berry, Dream of the Earth

Heath Gamache, of Prospect, recently installed a 100-foot meteorological tower near the university football stadium to measure wind velocity for a year.The tower records wind velocity and direction data with a wind vane and two anemometers (wind speed measuring devices). The data is logged onto microchips that Gamache downloads onto a laptop computer for analysis.Gamache is in Slippery Rock University Master of Science in Sustainable Systems Program, and is also assistant director of environmental education at Camp Luthelyn in Prospect.

His initial goal is providing wind energy for SRU Harmony House, located at the Robert A. Macoskey Center for Sustainable Systems Education and Research, but he clearly has a broader application in mind. Gamache installed a similar wind tower at his self-sustaining house, Terra Dei Homestead, at Camp Lutherlyn in Prospect.

If Gamache finds average wind speeds of at least 10 mph over the 12-month period, a wind turbine could be installed to produce electricity for SRU buildings. If wind speeds are in the 15 to 25 mph range, conditions could be right for a wind farm that supplies power for the whole region. Source: Gordon Ovenshine, June 2003