Tom Whitaker, senior supervisor at the coal powered plant on the University of Kentucky campus, gave a tour to students on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012. Photo by Latara Appleby | Staff

By Rachel Aretakis

One of the university’s two coal-fired steam plants opened its doors to UK students for a look inside how campus is heated.

More than 45 people toured the main campus plant Wednesday afternoon, organized by the Kentucky Energy Club.

The plant, located between South Limestone and South Upper Street, supplies all the steam for campus, said Tom Whitaker, a plant senior supervisor.

The 75,000-pound coal-fired boilers provide heat and/or hot water for campus buildings, he said.

UK’s chapter of the Kentucky Energy Club opened the tour to all students to show how the plant works.

“Energy power has never been taught,” Evan Schroader, the club’s president, said. “The energy IQ is generally low. We want to educate people because it’s never been taught.”

While students often pass the plant (which is near the Taylor Education Building and just down the street from Jamba Juice), many have never been inside, besides for class.

Todd Campbell, an operator at the plant, said in his two years working there, only engineering students have toured the plant. This was the first time he had seen an open tour to students, he said.

Touring students watched as Campbell pulled a chain down, slowly cranking an iron door open. He then grabbed a hoe and continually raked ashes out through a piping system to the ash silo.

Two times a shift, someone climbs down the narrow, industrial steps to “pull ashes.” About every four days, the ash is halled away in a truck.

Whitaker led the first group of students through the plant, which was built in 1934 and most recently renovated in 1978.

He said all of the coal comes from Perry County, Ky., and none of it is from strip mines. While many people think the plant produces electricity, it only produces steam, he said.

In response to several student questions, Whitaker discussed air pollution and steam on campus.

“We meet the (EPA) standards because you can’t see anything coming out of (the stacks),” Whitaker said.

He said he is required to go to school every six months to learn about new standards.

Among the students touring was Kristen Vinson, a journalism senior who thinks every student should go on a tour. She said she is interested in the Beyond Coal movement.

“I think (students) like coal because they think they have to,” she said, regarding the university being associated with Friends of Coal.

Groups learned the plant’s process from when the coal comes in on trucks, to when it is burned. Brock Meade, a psychology freshman, said he would characterize himself as having an anti-coal stance.

“It is nice to come in and see how the coal-fired power plant works,” he said.

He said his opinion about coal didn’t change after the tour.

Related Link: Cost of energy: UK officials discuss power plants, conservation

Club Coordinator Bree McCarney said this is the first time it has done a campus plant tour, but members have traveled to other plants throughout the state. She said she wants to make this a regular occurance.

“We’re just about education,” McCarney said. “We don’t have a political stance.”

McCarney and Schroader started the club at UK with a state grant “to elevate the energy IQ for the community,” Schroader said.

The club, which was started last year, is focused on community outreach, education and fact-based analysis, McCarney said.

“The politics behind (coal) are kind of distorted,” Schroader said. “We want to focus on facts, not politics.”

Schroader, who is a mechanical engineering senior, also works in the Center for Applied Energy Research with Jack Groppo, the club’s faculty adviser.

Groppo wanted to do the tour to “let people see how heat is generated and how campus is heated.”

“Energy affects everyone,” he said.

He said he was thrilled with the number of people who came to the tour, and hopes this sparks interest in coal issues.

“Everyone is going to form an opinion,” Groppo said. “At least form it on fact, not hearsay.”

For more information, the Kentucky Energy Club is sponsoring a panel with Bob Wiseman, UK’s vice president of facilities, and Shane Tedder, its sustainability coordinator, to discuss the plant as well as other campus energy issues.

The panel is at 7 p.m. Thursday in Student Center room 230.

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By winning against Tulsa, the Cats advanced to the round of 16 in the National Indoor Championships for the third straight year.

Overall, it’s the fifth straight round of 16 the Cats have made, including the past two indoor tournaments and their outdoor appearances over the last couple seasons.

The deciding match of the tournament didn’t involve Eric Quigley or Anthony Rossi, as would be expected — it involved sophomore Alejandro Gomez, who’s ranked No. 111 in the nation.  Gomez’s big win on the final day of the kickoff weekend clinched the match for UK.

After splitting the first two sets against Tristan Jackson, Gomez suddenly went on a roll, dominating the third set with a 6-0 victory.  The score of the match was 6-3, 3-6, 6-0.

While there’s no doubt Gomez was impressive, he wasn’t the only one.  His match may have been the biggest, but his teammates were rather impressive also.
Fifth-ranked Eric Quigley was impressive, taking his match 6-3, 6-4.  Thirty-sixth-ranked Anthony Rossi — just a couple weeks removed from his championship in the SEC Coaches’ Indoor tournament in Lexington — also played well, winning 7-5, 7-5.

Tom Jomby was the team’s fourth winner, while Alex Musialek and Panav Jha didn’t finish their matches (both were winning their respective games when play was halted).

UK remains undefeated on the season, and it has been a great beginning for a very promising team.

Cedric Kauffmann, UK’s associate head coach, was especially proud of the sophomore class, saying he was “particularly happy” with how the sophomore athletes had been performing.

Since 2009, the Cats are 47-9 on their home court, making a big statement to other teams coming to town.
The team won’t continue into the National Championships’ round of 16 until Feb. 17, but in the meantime, the Cats will play host to Pepperdine noon on Sunday.

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or email him at asmith@kykernel.com

John Henson gets the rebound in the game between the University of Kentucky and the University of North Carolina at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky., on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. Kentucky won 73-72. Photo by Latara Appleby | Staff

UK’s offensive adjustments from the St. John’s game proved to be successful in UK’s victory against North Carolina Saturday at Rupp Arena.

While it is still early in the season,  the Cats believe this won’t be the last time they play UNC in 2011-12.

“I definitely think we’ll probably see them again,” senior guard Darius Miller said. “We hope to be there toward the end of the season in the tournament and we’re pretty sure they will be.”

UK head coach John Calipari told his players this would be a game of runs, which was proven to be true with the matchup’s eight lead changes.

“It was just going back and forth, point-to-point,” freshman forward Anthony Davis said. “Somebody had to get a stop. I’m glad it was us, on the last play.

Following a last-second shot blocked by Davis, the Cats were able to recover the ball for the final seconds to steal a 73-72 win from the Tar Heels.

“He saved us,” Miller said. “Ant came out of nowhere. I didn’t even see him, his arms are so long, but he definitely saved the game for us.”

The game was a continuous battle for both teams, with each team attacking relentlessly for the full 40 minutes.

But for the first 20 minutes, it was the Tar Heels attacking the rim, leading UK 43-38 at the half.

The Cats were able to get to the rim, but unable to finish, struggling in the paint with the size of UNC’s Harrison Barnes, Tyler Zeller and John Henson.

With the experience from these players, UK’s veteran leadership was going to be vital for a successful outcome with UNC. Calipari especially wanted sophomore Terrence Jones to step up, and he did.

Jones recorded 14 points, seven rebounds and three blocks, each while competing with Henson on matchups.

“Terrence Jones, that was his best game of the year,” he said, “and he was challenged by it.”

The Cats came back with a 5-0 run to open the second half and continued to strike until the Cats finally took the lead.

As Calipari predicted, the game resulted in a game of runs, essentially trading shot-for-shot until the final seconds.

Both teams answered quickly with each possession until the Cats were able to slow down the pace of the game by running down the clock, which allowed them to set up plays and maintain control of the game.

“I think we did a really good job running offense in the second half by slowing it down and taking away the fast break points,” Jones said. “I feel we limited them to about two of those. It was a really good game plan by Coach (Calipari).”

But with a road trip to a tough Indiana crowd approaching next week, the Cats are concentrating on staying focused and taking things game by game.

“I’ve already talked to a few of the guys about how crazy it’s gonna be,” Miller said. “The crowd does a great job of getting them hyped up and getting them pumped up and they’re gonna be ready to play, so that’s another tough game.”

See the full UK men’s basketball schedule and scores.

Three things we learned from UK’s 81-59 win over St. John’s:

1. Anthony Davis is a monster — Does it count as a thing we learned if it’s only something that was reinforced (even if it was REALLY reinforced)? He had 15 points, 15 rebounds and eight blocks, and was on pace for the school’s second triple-double before getting hung up on eight blocks with about 10 minutes left in the second half. Still, with 13 NBA personnel in the building, he reaffirmed why he is the clear favorite to be the No. 1 pick.

2. UK’s strength right now, clearly, is the defense. It had its best defensive effort of the season, and that’s saying something considering the Cats have held every opponent under 35 percent shooting. St. John’s shot 19-for-60 and committed 19 turnovers. In the first half, it couldn’t get a shot off before the shot clock expired four times.

3. Part of that defensive effort was a school-record 18 blocks. Oddly enough, Eloy Vargas, playing in place of Davis in the last four minutes, got the tying and record-breaking blocks. Between those and the dunks (Terrence Jones and Darius Miller both had nasty slams), it was a full-out aerial assault.

More coming after the game.
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or email him at asmith@kykernel.com.

See the full UK men’s basketball schedule.

Marquis Teague drives to the basket against Portland at Rupp Arena on Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011. Photo by Scott Hannigan | Staff

Three things we learned from UK’s 87-63 win over Portland:

1. UK had better ball distribution. In the first half, its first 10 made field goals were all assisted, and at the end of the half, UK had 11 assists to one turnover. UK didn’t shoot the ball especially well in that half (48.3 percent) but it shared it well. Prior to this game, UK had assisted on 78 of its 155 field goals. (UK ended the game with 20 assists and four turnovers.)

2. UK has to find a way to rebound better — against a team that had outrebounded its opponents by less than one per game, UK was outrebounded 21-16 in the first half. On the important side of the court, it allowed Portland to grab 8 offensive rebounds while getting only 13 defensive rebounds. (The flip side wasn’t much better, as UK got three offensive rebounds and Portland got 13 defensive boards.) I liked Anthony Davis’ efforts on the glass. But moving forward — especially against North Carolina and in the SEC — UK will need more rebounding. I remember that being one of Calipari’s preaching points early in SEC play last year, as he urged his team to “gang rebound.” This team might have to adopt that same mentality. (UK ended the game getting outrebounded 39 to 38.)

3. UK has more Oregonians on its roster (two — Terrence Jones and Kyle Wiltjer) than Portland (one). Just a little geography factoid for you.

4 (BONUS!). This game had nothing on the football game.