By: Mitchell Hagenson Staff Writer
Iowa Lakes has offered many great programs over the years. Programs like Sales and Marketing, Human Services, or even Aviation. One program that has blown into this college’s different types of programs to choose from is Wind Energy. The Wind Energy Program has been around for more that 15 years at Iowa Lakes. According to Daniel Lutat who is the Director of Sustainable Energy Resources and Technology stated that, “The Wind Energy Program was the first in the nation to offer an associate and applied science in Wind Energy and Turbine Technology, so that started back in 2004.”
Lutat would then talk about who this programs targets when it comes to find new students for this program. “Everyone comes with a different focus,” said Lutat.
“We have some people that come, because they have a strong bend for the environment. They want to do the right thing for the planets’ future. We have the type of people that kind of tinker for most of their life, whether if it’s tinkering around the farm or the shop, putting engines together, taking them apart. They already have some experimental, mechanical inclination there. We also like to see problem solvers, people that are good with math and science skills. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist, but you definitely want to have some good problem solving skills, and math and science in high school already built that.”
“Another part of it is someday you can be a good team player, because you never work alone, your well being, your life in some cases is always in somebody else’s hands in vice versa, so you got to be responsible, you got to be able to work with a very close-knit team, and if you go to most of the sites in the region and if you were able to study them for a day or two, you’ll see right away, they are really close-knit. They really know how to take care of each other. They really know how to get along, so I guess that’s part of it. The number one quality that I think that makes a Wind Technician is the fact that they can take responsibility willing, they also have a pretty decent wiliness to work; they are not afraid of it, and I guess that biggest thing there is that they have a caring sense of responsibility for the people around them.”
Cole Zrinsky, who is a current freshmen for the Wind Energy Program, would talk why joined the Wind Energy Program. “For me, when I first decided to go to Iowa Lakes, I had to ask what kind of job what I want to get that I can always support myself on,” said Zrinsky. “Why I choose this program is basically simple. This program would pay a living wage, I wouldn’t hate myself for doing it. I feel like it’s supporting something that is productive in that sense, it’s a growing industry, so the ability to have a long-term, sustainable job is fairly strong for me. I also choose this program, because well climbing up high causes you test your possible fears of heights, your enjoyment of the view from a different perspective up so high, and also just because it’s a common answer, great pay.”
Lutat would then go into detail in his opinion of what makes this program so interesting. “There is always something for something for everybody,” said Lutat. “Because you have so many things that support wind, if there is somebody that wants to be a computer programmer, they can do that. The biggest things in the industry right now is the use of machine learning or what some people refer to as artificial intelligence, where we take the different machines based off in different programs, we can make them more efficient, more safer overtime, so that saves the industry a lot of money and produces lot of more electricity, but it’s something that’s kind of new to turbines, so it’s something that in the next generation of turbine, so your going to see a lot of that technology being used.”
“You’ve also got the design in of things, so engineers, you’ve got the fact of wind energy is going really fast, and America has some really assertive goals for Wind Energy all the way out to 2050. The other part that I think makes it exciting is that people see that this is a stable career and a family income that does the right thing. We don’t do negative things for the planet. Nature always wins where we put turbines. Wind partners are very, very, good stewards and so are the technicians that are our there maintaining the stuff in the field, so when you look at it, there aren’t too main industries that you can think of when you look at the utility scale that has so much going for them. They do the right thing, plus they make money and they create lots of jobs, so they aren’t too many downsides to it as far as I’m concerned.”
Lutat would talk about why he believes Wind Energy is one of the most popular programs to to learn at Iowa Lakes. “My personal opinion would be because it’s fun,” said Lutat. Bottom line it’s fun. It’s work everyday, it’s always something different and it’s just kind of exciting. There’s not to many places where you’re repelling one day and working in a automation lab the next day, so there is a lot of variety in it.”
As you can see there are many great reasons why to join the Wind Energy Program. Many reasons like it brings you closer as more than colleagues, it helps see the world from a better perspective, or even if you just like helping with the environment, windmill energy brings you more closer with the environment. No matter the reason; Wind Energy can kind of be like life, I guess you can say it’s winderful.
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