Go green! : The Engineering behind Renewable Energy

Wei Dai, Mechanical Engineer, Wind Turbine Industry:

I studied mechanical engineering and landed a job in the wind turbine manufacturing industry.  To be very clear, I became an engineer because 1) I love Legos 2) I am from a Chinese family that relentlessly pushed my mathematic skills in order to land a practical job.

Since my company is funded from China, I do more than engineering and often participate in cross cultural business management.  The ultimate goal in the industry I am in is to lower the cost of wind energy.  Go green!  The impact of my job is both rewarding and absolutely necessary to today’s society.  If we can make the wind energy supply chain cheap, we can reduce the use of fossil fuel.

My advice for the younger generation going into engineering is to never sacrifice opportunity for safety.  To be a good engineer requires a disciplined but curious mind, and despite all the practicality involved in one’s education, an engineering student must never stop pushing the boundary of what is possible.  This is an area in which artists can really teach us something!

Here I am in my job climbing up the base of a wind turbine!