A new wind turbine is providing a fraction of MU’s electricity, thanks to the Sustainability Office and Campus Facilities’ Energy Management.

The turbine is a part of MU’s Climate Action Plan, an initiative to make the university more sustainable, and will be mostly used as a learning tool. Generating 20 kilowatts of electricity, it will only be able to entirely power one small building, with the leftover energy feeding into MU’s power grid.

With a $360,000 price tag and an output of 1 percent, it might not seem like the trade is practical or even cost-efficient. In the long term, it will be though.

Sustainable energy has always been more expensive upfront than other energy sources, but typically pays off in the long run. This turbine means $360,000 right now, but it will save MU money eventually, and more importantly, it keeps us on the track toward a more sustainable campus.

Using the turbine as a teaching tool can only benefit students. It’s available for students to tour, and the amount of energy produced and used will be shown on a website similar to Mizzou Dashboard. Though the turbine itself lends itself to education, it will also serve as an example of higher-ups realizing the importance of reusable energy.

The wind turbine is great addition to our campus — as a beginning. MU has to keep moving forward in its sustainability initiatives. If following steps are anywhere near the scale of the wind turbine, then the university is on the right track.