The Energy, Sampath, and Fort Collins

Dr. Walajabad S. Sampath is a mechanical engineer professor in the engineering department at Colorado State University. Most of his life has been spent on creating energy since he was a student in college. He majored in mechanical engineering at Arizona State University.

Most of his research was on photovoltaic (PV) when he was in grad school, he has been living to make energy all his life. “Dr. Sampath’s research includes all aspects of CdTe thin film photovoltaics including basic physics to manufacturing technology,” according to Colorado State University’s website.

“Fort Collins has committed to have going to complete renewable electricity by 2030 or 2035 or something like that,” Sampath said. For instance, Fort Collins has been going through a lot of issues debating about whether they will use fossil fuels in the future or not.

Sampath’s experience with the city government and college has been likely to benefit the environment by adding value to solar generation stand-alone systems mostly. Sampath said that Fort Collins has started to use solar and wind, but wind is more dominant in the Fort Collins area. “However, solar is second but solar is coming out strong,” he said.

Narrowing further, Sampath strongly supports building a hybrid solar-wind power generation system in Fort Collins. “Combining both is efficient,” Sampath said. “Sometimes when there is wind there is no sun, when there is no sun there is wind, so combining both is helpful.”

Fort Collins might still use fossil fuels in the next 20 years but are working on boycotting them. “They hope to get away from it in less than 20 years,” Sampath said. Carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions are rapidly increasing but still compatible to most western countries, which is 80 kilos of 80 tons of CO2 per person per year, which is too much for the atmosphere, according to Sampath.

But in the future, we have to draw the distinction between generating electricity and consuming it. “All I’m talking about is generating electricity, the theory is that people will buy electric cars and transportation will also be electrified,” Sampath said.

Sampath had an extreme empathy towards the environment and wants to advise many homeowners and residential owners by telling them that the energy efficiency of the building itself is an important issue, make sure that there are no leaks, and convert all regular lamps to LED lamps.

Not only that, but Fort Collins are also working for a better future in energy utilization by providing a lot of renewable energy options through their website. They offer solar rebates in lower prices, community solar for those who don’t have space for photovoltaics installations in their home and want ownership, and green energy programs. They also provide efficiency rebates and resources.

All in all, Sampath and Fort Collins and energy have been together for more than 30 years. The city has gone through a lot and Sampath has witnessed many things over the years and energy has been the victim. Sampath is innovating his mind to strategize a cleaner, brighter, and healthier future for the beautiful city.