NEXT MEETING ____________________________________________
Monday, June 10 - 12:00 noon
Cellar Restaurant at Union
Square
Scheduling conflicts have caused us to postpone our presentation on
Invasive Plants. We expect to reschedule that presentation in July or August. In
the interim, our own Greg Sedrick (remember him) consented to provide us with a
compelling human-interest story.
Topic: A Biographical Sketch of a Unique Inventor
R.G. LeTourneau was an engineer, inventor, entrepreneur, evangelist, and
someone who provided advice on the role and responsibility of engineers that is
ironically befitting in the post 9/11 era. LeTourneau is the third largest
holder of patents registered to an individual following Thomas Edison and Edwin
Land. His inventions include the bulldozer and the portable off shore oil
drilling platform. His company designed and built some of the world's most
massive machinery - earthmovers, transporters, missile launchers, bridge
builders and offshore drilling rigs. If a task needed to be done faster,
smarter, and bigger, LeTourneau could usually be found on the job. His capacity
to think and act on a grand scale made LeTourneau an internationally recognized
industrialist. He made and lost several fortunes over his lifetime.
Perhaps his greatest contribution was his donated work, designing and building
living structures and utility infrastructure in third world countries.
Our program will be presented by Dr. Greg Sedrick, P.E., Dean of the
School of Engineering and Engineering Technology at LeTourneau University in
Longview, Texas. Greg will present excerpts from R.G. LeTourneau's
biography, "Mover of Mountains and Men" and relate LeTourneau's model as a
response in today's post 9/11 world.
Invocation: Richard Smith
Fellowship: Jim Bell
Entrée du jour: Beef
Bourguignon over rice w/ tossed salad, baked potato, squash casserole &
peach cobbler
OUR PREVIOUS MEETING June 3
___________________________
Gary Harris provided us with an overview of a new
TVA initiative that relies on energy produced from renewable sources such as
wind, solar, and methane from municipal waste. Titled "Green Power Switch
Program", it is the first of it's type in the Southeastern United States. Gary
is the manager of that program.
Gary said that TVA has built three wind-powered generators on a
two-acre site on Buffalo Mountain about six miles northwest of Oak Ridge. The
wind generators sit atop towers that are 213 feet tall, and each generator
drives three rotor blades. The blades are about 75 feet long, making the
diameter of the rotors' span 150 feet. Each assembly is 290 feet from the ground
to the tip of an upright rotor. Each wind turbines has a generating capacity of
660 kilowatts. To date the windmills have shown an annual capacity factor of
about 30%.
TVA has established photovoltaic systems to generate solar power at
some eleven sites throughout the Tennessee Valley including Dollywood (Pigeon
Forge) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Oak Ridge) and Finley Stadium
(Chattanooga). All together, the system can deliver up to 250 kilowatts. TVA
plans to continue expanding the number of solar-generation sites.
At present TVA has two sources of methane gas: the Middle Point
Landfill in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and the City of Memphis wastewater
treatment facility, which produces a methane by-product that is co-fired at
TVA's Allen Fossil Plant.
Electricity generated by the windmills and the
solar cells is fed into the grid of several TVA distributors.
FUTURE MONDAY MEETINGS
_____________________________________
June 17 Topic: Hamilton County Regional Bike Plan - Bill Allen, Arcadis
June 24 Topic: Automated Power Distribution Technology - Gilbert Davis,
TVA
July 8 Topic: Methane Hydrate - Green House Gas
or New Fuel? Dr. Roddy Judkins
July 15 Topic: Playground
Equipment - Innovative Technologies for Playground at Siskin, Jerry
Sterling
July 29 Topic: Global Warming - How Real the Threat?
Marilyn Brown, ORNL
WHERE WE MEET
_____________________________________
Unless we note otherwise, all
of our presentation meetings are held at the Cellar Restaurant of the
Tallan building, Union Square Downtown Chattanooga from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. Our
meeting room and luncheon service are open by 11:30 a.m. Lunch buffet is $10.00
per person (inclusive). No reservation is required. Free parking is available in
the Days Inn Motel (on Carter St. and MLK Blvd,) courtesy of the Days Inn
management. When you park there, be sure to place a note on your dashboard
indicating you are attending the Engineers Club meeting.