Composite Genius

The blade of an offshore wind turbine is 180 feet long, twice the distance from home plate to first base on a full-size baseball field. Though the development of offshore wind power on the coast of Maine is years away, the Advanced Engineered Wood Composites Center (AEWC) at the University of Maine is preparing for the future today. This spring, the center breaks ground on a $5 million expansion that will provide space for the building and testing of a prototype turbine.

Innovative engineering projects with economy-changing potential are nothing new to Habib Dagher, cofounder and director of AEWC. Since the center’s founding in 1995, he’s had his fingerprints all over Maine’s economy and infrastructure, from boatbuilding to residential roofing to weather-resistant waterfront construction to building bridges. He’s developed blast-resistant tent panels and modular buildings for the U.S. military. And he’s helped to build AEWC’s reputation as a global leader in composites research.

What are composites? In the most basic terms, they are synthetic materials created through the manipulation of chemistry. They often combine light weight with high tensile strength and durability. This makes them ideal for use in high-stress environments like war zones and waterfronts, and also for large-scale projects in which weight drives up the costs.

A spectacular demonstration is the recently opened Neal Bridge in Pittsfield, the first bridge in the world built using AEWC’s “bridge in a backpack” technology. Tubes made of carbon-fiber composites are inflated at the construction site, creating hollow arches 12 inches in diameter. The insides of the tubes are coated with a resin that becomes rigid overnight. The arches—so lightweight that Dagher can easily lift one end off the ground by himself—are then put into place and filled with concrete, creating the support for the bridge. It’s a merging of architecture that dates back at least to ancient Rome with 21st-century materials and innovation.

But it is the question of Maine’s energy future that holds much of Habib Dagher’s attention these days. Off to one side is a cross section of a wind turbine blade that visitors may not photograph for proprietary reasons. Dagher is among a small group of scientists and engineers laying the groundwork for the development of wind energy in the Gulf of Maine. He’s invited Gov. John Baldacci and Sen. Susan Collins to AEWC for his PowerPoint presentation on the potential installation of hundreds of turbines in Maine’s coastal waters over the next 20 years. He’s addressed the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on the subject. He’s brought professionals from Europe to the university for presentations and workshops.

“As a state, we are in position to be a world leader in wind technology,” Dagher says, his eyes alight with the idea. “But more importantly, we can do it in a way that benefits the average Maine family.”

A trim man who looks younger than his actual age of 49, Dagher speaks softly but with obvious passion for his work. Born to Lebanese parents in Guinea, on the west coast of Africa, he came to the United States as a teenager. He received a PhD in civil/structural engineering from the University of Wisconsin in 1985. He also holds two master of science degrees in structural engineering and engineering mechanics. In 1996, he and four other faculty members founded the AEWC. Today the center employs nearly 50 researchers and staff, and sponsors some 150 students a year, both graduates and undergraduates from more than 20 academic departments. The expansion, scheduled to be completed by the end of the year, promises to keep the University of Maine at the center of the swirling winds of new energy technology.

How did the Advanced Engineered Wood Composites Center come to be?

Back in 1995, five of us had a dream. It was becoming clear that the wood products industry in the state of Maine was heading in the wrong direction. We asked ourselves how we could revitalize this industry, and we identified composite materials as potentially one of the largest growth sectors. We made a proposal to the National Science Foundation, which was accepted.

Our goal was to be the world leader in that niche of research that we do. Number two wasn’t good enough. That was the vision from day one. Of course, we can’t be the best in everything. You have to pick a niche. Our niche was to combine natural fibers and advanced synthetic fibers to form these new materials.

We do composite materials in general, anything from marine applications to vehicles to bridges. It doesn’t have to have wood in it. Only about a third of our work involves wood. But we still do a lot with wood-based materials.

You seem to have your hand in things, from boats to bomb shelters to bridges and wind turbines. How do you prioritize?

The common thread of all these projects is composite materials. We’re essentially a research-and-development laboratory. We don’t sell composite products. We develop all the technology, make a prototype, test it, and then hand it off to industry. Our job ends at that point.

We have strategic planning meetings at least once a year. Based on our collective knowledge, we try to decide where we can do the most good. Our center has different levels of organization. We have a management team, faculty teams, staff, and students. When we do strategic planning, we try to get all these groups involved.

At first, of course, we took the work we could get. But as time progresses, more people come to us, because we’re getting known globally. A lot of people are coming to us with projects right now. We want to work on what’s good for the country and the state and the local area. We tend to favor projects that can have a positive effect on society.

How has your work changed as AEWC has grown?

When the center opened, there were only five of us. We started out doing research ourselves and working with students directly. A lot of us have migrated into management positions. Of course, I still long for the hands-on, as we all do, but we realize we can’t do it all.

The best teaching you can do is when students are working on projects funded by clients that want results. They have to go into the lab and design something, build it, test it, and present it to the client. They get a dose of the real world. It puts all their education in perspective.

How did you become an advocate for wind power?

We migrated into it, logically and progressively. Every wind turbine blade spinning anywhere in the world today is made of composites. So we became interested in making blades faster, lighter, and less expensively.

The expansion will allow us to develop better technologies to manufacture components of wind energy towers and blades. We’ll be able to manufacture them in our laboratory on a prototype basis, and also to test them to make sure they’ll hold up in the end-use environment. We’re talking about blades that are 180 feet long!

Why do you believe wind is the key to Maine’s energy future?

Go look at what’s happening in Europe. We’re about 10 years behind. They’re calling wind energy the third industrial revolution in Europe. They’re creating 300,000 jobs in wind energy and related businesses over the next 15 to 20 years, with plans to invest half a trillion dollars. They’ve looked at all the options and selected wind, for a variety of reasons.

We’ve got some of the best winds in the world in the Gulf of Maine. We’ve been studying that very carefully. We need to start doing our homework today, so that when the exam arrives, we’ll be ready. It’s going to take years to get there, but we’ve got to get our act together and start right now.

But how can we maximize the benefit to the average Maine family? It doesn’t do any good to put up all these turbines if we’re not going to reduce or maintain electricity rates for the average Maine family.

The key is to develop a long-term plan, rather than piecemeal projects. And this governor understands that. The governor is behind maximizing benefits for the whole population.

What are the technological hurdles?

The technology depends on the depth of the water. In shallow water, less than 100 feet, you can drive a big pile into the seabed using specialized vessels, and bolt the tower to the pile. Between 100 and 200 feet, you have to use tripods and multiple piles and more complex foundations. Over 200 feet, you need to float them, essentially like an offshore oil-drilling platform. That deep-water technology does not exist yet. It’s the holy grail of energy right now. It’s not a simple problem by any means. But we have technology we can build on.

Don’t you anticipate opposition from shorefront property owners and others?

The reason we’re running into NIMBY [not in my backyard] issues is that we don’t have a policy framework to make a difference for the average Maine family. If you look at Stetson Mountain and Mars Hill, they’re isolated projects, and they plug into the New England grid. Mars Hill supplies 42 megawatts to a 25 to 30 gigawatt grid. It’s a drop in the bucket. It isn’t going to make a difference in anybody’s prices.

We’re developing a geographic information systems decision tool, a database with over 100 layers of data on the Gulf of Maine. This database includes wind speeds, geophysical conditions, water depth, wave qualities. It includes where the whales live, where the right whales travel, bird migratory patterns, fishing grounds, airport exclusion zones, military exclusion zones, where you can and cannot connect to the grid. This is sort of a preliminary screening effort.

The last thing we want to do is go tell people we’re going to build it in their backyard. There’s a lot of homework that has to be done. You can’t do a proposal on this scale without considering all these things.

You’ve also outlined a vision of wind-generated electricity powering geothermal heating systems and electric cars. Can Maine realistically make such a sea change in energy use?

The plan we have is really the conversion of the state over the next 20 years. Convert the majority of homes to geothermal heat pumps, and the majority of cars into electric vehicles. How do you do that in 20 years? It’s very simple math. If you can convert 5% of homes each year, in 20 years you’ve converted everyone. If you have a system of incentives in place, and inform people of what’s coming, they’ll make the switch. If we can convert people gradually over the next 20 years to heat pumps and electric vehicles, and, in parallel, grow the supply of electricity as demand grows, and maintain prices, then we’ve made a difference in our state.

Why is it important to act now?

We’re at a crossroads in history right now. We have a new administration that has a new set of values in terms of how to take our country forward. These core values include investment in infrastructure, bridges, green buildings, and green energy. President Obama talks about 5 million green jobs in renewable energy, for example. These are very exciting things for us, things that we as a center have been promoting since our inception. We see a lot of opportunities in Maine. We’ve just spun off a business that’s going to be making rapidly deployable bridges, to help build a more durable infrastructure using a smaller carbon footprint. These are the kinds of projects we have been strategically working on for years now, and the new administration wants to invest in these technologies. So it’s a wonderful opportunity for the state of Maine to become a leader in green technology. To the extent that we can help industry in the state move in that direction, we’re very pleased to do that.

Back in July, everybody was out trying to buy a pellet stove. And you couldn’t buy one. If you could, you couldn’t find pellets. It was crazy. People were running around like chickens with their heads cut off. It was a crisis. We were in crisis mode. That’s what $4 a gallon did to the state of Maine. Now think about what $8 a gallon would do. We’re approaching that in 2018.

Now imagine that in the next few months our governor declares that we want to be the greenest state in the country. We’re going to embrace the Obama vision of clean energy, and be the pilot state to do this. We can create jobs, improve the economy, and help the environment all at the same time. The plan is to first develop onshore wind, because that’s here and now.

In 2010, we would like to put out a request for proposals for a shallow water wind project. We’d like to identify areas, go to the people and say, “Folks, here’s an opportunity for you. We want you to come to us if you want it. The affected communities have to have additional benefits. A lot of communities will want it, with the right incentives and the right information. And the University of Maine is the right place to do the research.

We want to develop a policy framework that allows the state to benefit from this resource, instead of fighting the battle in every community. Let us explain to the people of Maine that we have a plan to stabilize electricity prices over the next 30 years. There is a plan. Then we can really start having a dialogue with the Maine population.

As an engineer, are you ever frustrated at the inefficiency of the political process?

We all know that we need to do our due diligence. The political world is there to protect the public good. There needs to be time to really air out new programs and make sure the public-benefit part of the programs is well addressed from day one. I enjoy working with the political forces in the state and beyond. It’s a necessary and important part of the process.

If you look at offshore wind, for example, it’s not just a science project in a laboratory. You need to have public support, you need to have political support within the State Legislature, you need support in Washington, and you need support in the media. As the scale of the project changes, from the laboratory to perhaps a new direction for our country, the scientific, political, and media parts of the whole come together. There’s a confluence of all of these pieces. I see a really wonderful synergy of all these parts to allow large projects like this to move forward.

Have you always been an optimist?

Yes, absolutely. I tell everybody that if you’re not excited about what you’re doing, then you should be doing something else.