Appalachian Energy Conference 2025

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

I attended the Appalachian Energy Conference in early June.

A couple observations:
Applacart runs for a lot less than other transit systems in the state on a per trip basis.

There seemed to be a lot of university-town partnerships which is good to hear considering the tension that can exist in any college town where the town is the same size or smaller than the university. And considering what was happening under the previous administration based on lots of comments discussed on this board this was good to hear.

There are two more windmills generating electricity and both are much larger than the first one installed. (There is a nice exhibit on the NASA windmill from the late 70s just past the Student Store and near the back entrance to the Solarium.) The two new windmills went live while the conference was in session.

Appalachian really does lead the UNC system in sustainability. Something I am proud of as an alumnus.

The Solar Car team is A-MAZING-ING. They are helped by a trustee that owns the warehouse and gives them a deep discount on the rent for the space. I noticed they are competing now and are in the Midwest based on a social media post.

There is a lot that has been done to the community being built by the baseball stadium compared to last year this time.

I can upload some pics of what the dorms are like in the old Stadium Lot. They are still on my phone. Basically a dorm but suite style.

Interesting fact I learned. One parking spot in a ground level parking lot cost $5,000. A parking deck costs $25,000 per parking spot.

We had dinner and a plenary session in the NEZ and I got to watch a bit of practice/skills building. The amount of work done to the endzones and sidelines and the block A in the center was way more than I thought would happen. And they did nothing really to the green part of the field. Just the part with black paint was really worked. Maybe on other days the ground crew focuses on a different part of the field. They used a few machines but one of the other went over the part they did work dozens of times. (I wonder if there is going to be health problems from all the rubber particulate matter in the field. People have to be inhaling microplastics at times.)

I should have posted sooner as I have forgotten a few things I wanted to mention.

[AppinVA]

I was up by the baseball stadium today. The two new windmills were not operating, but the older one was.

[311neers]

Would love to see some progress photos up near the baseball stadium of the Sustainability Campus development. Hopefully all of that will be done by next baseball season but probably not knowing construction in general and in the high country. Get it done before Aug. 2026 for resident/staff move-ins.

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

I was up by the baseball stadium today. The two new windmills were not operating, but the older one was.

I think someone high up in the facilities part of campus mentioned it would be some on/off for a bit. Likely some tweaking to be done and it may be the threshold wind speed to start is a bit higher for the longer blades. I have no idea of the wind speed in Boone today.

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

Would love to see some progress photos up near the baseball stadium of the Sustainability Campus development. Hopefully all of that will be done by next baseball season but probably not knowing construction in general and in the high country. Get it done before Aug. 2026 for resident/staff move-ins.

How bad winter is will play a part but a lot was done. More than I expected. I did not take any pics or maybe only one or two. I did take some pics of the windmills. With fences and gravel and a new to me PHEV car that is really the wife's car, I did not hang around for long.

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

I did get to park in River St deck and used the EV chargers. We purchased a PHEV and I was curious about fuel economy. One the way up to Boone I think I averaged 58 or so MPG and on the way down the mountain I averaged 88 MPG. My PHEV only gets about 40 miles on a charge but I think I was closer to Hamptonville area than N. Wilkesboro before the ICE had to kick in. I did use a tidbit of gas climbing the hills at the bottom of the mountain and before NC-16. I think the car added 4 miles to its EV range just charging while going down the mountain.

It would be an interesting study to do this from I-77 and US-421 and then I-40 and US-321. Almost the same distance to Boone, and both are around 1000 to 1050 ft in elevation at these two points. The relief and distance traveled would be very close either path. But would the fuel efficiency be as close?

[AppinVA]

I was up by the baseball stadium today. The two new windmills were not operating, but the older one was.

I think someone high up in the facilities part of campus mentioned it would be some on/off for a bit. Likely some tweaking to be done and it may be the threshold wind speed to start is a bit higher for the longer blades. I have no idea of the wind speed in Boone today.

It wasn’t that windy.

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

I was up by the baseball stadium today. The two new windmills were not operating, but the older one was.

I think someone high up in the facilities part of campus mentioned it would be some on/off for a bit. Likely some tweaking to be done and it may be the threshold wind speed to start is a bit higher for the longer blades. I have no idea of the wind speed in Boone today.

It wasn’t that windy.

The wind in Boone will never blow much anymore.

I can't remember the number of megawatts of the windmills but it was a consider jump in output.

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

I do remember one more point. Someone from Boone operations mentioned that all the electricity used by city operations was green due to some hydroelectric purchased by NRLP and a solar farm in Caldwell County that BREMCO pull electrons from.

There was some mention of the extra cost (not that much more but a bit more.) and how Boone was working with NRLP to make this happen. That was one of the partnerships.

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

And another point. They do a good job with going zero waste at football games. That is a huge effort on the part of students and they are to be commended. On a personal note I will add that it would help when we are at KBS to make an effort to separate correctly.

I want to say a student in sustainability said 80% is diverted to either compost or recycling. I don't generally stay overnight after games but since I am retired from teaching and have not gotten a replacement job yet, I may spend the night for the mid-week game. I am curious if they would allow alumni to help with the sorting the next day.

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

I was up by the baseball stadium today. The two new windmills were not operating, but the older one was.

I think someone high up in the facilities part of campus mentioned it would be some on/off for a bit. Likely some tweaking to be done and it may be the threshold wind speed to start is a bit higher for the longer blades. I have no idea of the wind speed in Boone today.

It wasn’t that windy.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/L_IrWeNUUo0

[AppinVA]

I was up by the baseball stadium today. The two new windmills were not operating, but the older one was.

I think someone high up in the facilities part of campus mentioned it would be some on/off for a bit. Likely some tweaking to be done and it may be the threshold wind speed to start is a bit higher for the longer blades. I have no idea of the wind speed in Boone today.

It wasn’t that windy.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/L_IrWeNUUo0

I’ve always said it doesn’t get extremely hot in Boone in the summer, but when the wind stops, and if you’re used to the wind blowing, 80 degrees can be quite stiffing.

[Saint3333]

The carbon footprint of that windmill is peak virtue signaling.

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

The carbon footprint of that windmill is peak virtue signaling.

Granted there is some carbon used in building and transport but that would be the case for an ICE electric generator as well. But once in use where is the carbon from the windmill?

There are some concerns about recycling the parts when the windmill reaches end of life but that is some years into the future.

Why do you not care one bit for what future generations will have to deal with when in comes to climate and such?

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

I was up by the baseball stadium today. The two new windmills were not operating, but the older one was.

I think someone high up in the facilities part of campus mentioned it would be some on/off for a bit. Likely some tweaking to be done and it may be the threshold wind speed to start is a bit higher for the longer blades. I have no idea of the wind speed in Boone today.

It wasn’t that windy.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/L_IrWeNUUo0

I’ve always said it doesn’t get extremely hot in Boone in the summer, but when the wind stops, and if you’re used to the wind blowing, 80 degrees can be quite stiffing.

The new dorms we stayed in have AC. The dorms I stayed at various times of the year; Bowie, Cone, Frank, did not have more than heat that I remember. I could have survived with the AC off and window open at the conference, I think, but the windows do not open all that far for safety One can get a bit of a breeze and if we have the bathroom open to both suite rooms we might could have gotten a bit more but that was not coordinated.

[Saint3333]

The electrons that come off that windmill will never eclipse the carbon footprint to make it, maintain it, and dispose of it. It isn’t of scale and is virtue signaling.

You view that as not caring vs arguing math.

[AppSt94]

[BUTCH1991]

Just watched that last night. Loved it

[AppSt94]

Just watched that last night. Loved it

BBT is the male equivalent to Meryl Streep.

[Saint3333]

If we really want to change the energy landscape we'd have been working towards building 4th generation nuclear reactors for the past decade. Those are overall better for the environment, and economics.

Offshore Wind power subsidies were supposed to lower the consumers electric rates, but once costs mounted to build them the government decided to use those dollars to lower the supply chain cost to build shifting the rate difference (increases) back to the consumer.

The devil is in the details when it comes to wind and it isn't positive.