The Birth of a Green Future

Crystal balls can’t predict the future. But ASU alumni Kent Whitfield, James Gonzales, and Candy Wood are doing just that through their work with “green” energy sources.

Whitfield was a key player in the development of ASU’s Photovoltaic Testing Lab (PTL) during the 1990s. Today, he is a research and development manager for alternative energies at Underwriter Laboratories in Illinois. Whitfield works to help regulators and consumers get comfortable with emerging energy-producing technologies such as wind turbines, photovoltaics, fuel cells, hydrogen generators, micro-turbines, and reciprocating generators.

“There is a direct relationship between what I did at ASU and what I do today,” says Whitfield. During his time as lab manager, he helped create ASU’s dynamic load tester, a suction/pressure device used to test solar panels.

A solar-powered car project was Whitfield’s first introduction to the PTL. The project was part of an elective undergraduate course. He says that positive experience led him to pursue a master’s degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering and eventually to his role as PTL manager.

As lab manager, Whitfield helped develop test stations and standard operational procedures. Work by Whitfield and is colleagues helped ASU to become the first and only accredited North American laboratory to conduct photovoltaic module testing.

Similarly, Gonzales and Wood used their experience at ASU’s Fuel Cell Lab (FCL) to land positions that are shaping the future of energy production.

“I always had a fascination with alternative energy,” says Gonzales. Now a full-time employee at the FCL, he studies fuel cells and their performance in various everyday products. “Too much conventional energy is environmentally unfriendly.”

Gonzales currently is developing a fuel cell to power a laptop computer, an offshoot of the project he and Wood completed as undergraduates while working in the FCL.

In December 2003, Gonzales created a fuel cell-powered Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) to generate electricity for a desktop computer in the event of a power outage. The UPS provided an additional 192 hours of power. That result led to the design and development of a larger UPS capable of supporting up to 50 computers.

Today, Wood is an electrical power subsystems engineer for Spectrum Astro, a technology company specializing in high performance space-technology products. Her job is to ensure that satellites have the appropriate solar and fuel-cell equipment to support space missions.

“The majority of our electricity today is provided by major polluters,” she explains. “Take it away, replace it with a green energy source, and you’re simply doing good for the planet.” —Melissa Crytzer Fry