Have
you
ever
wondered
how the University of Michigan
generates the power to keep
the lights on after hours? The
University obtains power through
both on-campus generation and
local utility providers such as DTE
and Consumers Energy. However,
this process is undergoing changes
as the University moves towards
carbon neutrality over the next
couple of decades.
To achieve this, the University
has
set
several
goals.
The
University separates its emissions
into three main categories — Scope
1, which includes emissions from
power generated on campus; Scope
2, which includes emissions from
purchased electricity; and Scope 3,
which includes indirect emissions
from
University-sponsored
activities like commuting. Based on
the University’s carbon neutrality
plan, the University will eliminate
Scope 1 emissions by 2040 and
will offset Scope 2 emissions by
2025. They have also committed
to releasing more specific goals for
how they plan to eliminate or offset
Scope 3 emissions by 2025.
Yet the question remains: How
will the University achieve these
goals? Here’s a look into how
electricity is consumed on the Ann
Arbor campus. Flint and Dearborn
campuses follow the same climate
goals but were not included in this
article.
How
power
is
currently
generated
The
University
currently
obtains about 60% of its electricity
from purchased sources, while the
other 40% comes from on-campus
generation, according to Drew
Horning, special advisor to the
president for carbon neutrality
and managing director for the
Graham Sustainability Institute,
in an interview with The Michigan
Daily. The bulk of the electricity
generated
on-campus
comes
from the Central Power Plant
(CPP), located adjacent to the Hill
Neighborhood.
While walking through the
CPP
location,
plant
manager
Malcolm Bambling spoke with The
Daily about the plant’s focus on
reliability and said the University
generating its own power ensures
they are not entirely dependent
on
privately-owned
utilities.
Bambling
also
described
the
network of underground tunnels
across campus used to transport
electricity, steam and hot water.
Burying the cables, Bambling
explained, helps protect from the
elements and are therefore more
reliable.
In
January,
the
University
completed an expansion of the CPP,
which added a 15-megawatt turbine
and replaced the transformers to
include a new ring design, allowing
the electricity to stay operational
even if one transformer fails.
Horning
said
though
the
expansion was in the works prior
to the University setting its carbon
neutrality goals, the upgrade still
helps reduce carbon emissions in
line with their goals.
“Relative to the grid mix, (the
CPP) is much cleaner,” Horning
said. “It’s a combined heat and
power plant… the waste heat in a
combined heat and power plant is
captured and moved through steam
tunnels to buildings all over central
campus. That was the rationale
both to improve the efficiency of
our energy system, but also there’s
a lot around resilience of the energy
system supporting the medical
enterprise as redundancy in case
power goes out from the grid.”
U-M alum Zackariah Farah,
spokesperson for Ann Arbor for
Public Power, said he views the
expansion as a short-sighted project
that did not listen to feedback from
the community.
“They should not have invested
what I believe was over $80
million into expanding a methane-
powered power plant,” Farah
said. “They didn’t meet with the
environmental
students
who
were concerned about this, they
just went ahead and said, ‘Well,
technically, this will be reducing
emissions because we will be
reducing our reliance on DTE.’”
The
CPP
currently
relies
on natural gas, a fossil fuel, to
generate electricity and uses a
combined cycle process, which
can
dramatically
increase
efficiency compared to a simple
steam generator. By increasing
power efficiency, Horning said the
University can continue running
the plant for a longer period of
time while keeping carbon dioxide
emissions per kilowatt hour low.
On Nov. 2, the Institute for
the Humanities at the University
of Michigan unveiled La Pelea
(The Fight), a new installation
by Mexican artist Salvador Diaz.
Tucked in the front corner of the
building located on 202 South
Thayer Street, the 46-foot long
circular mural allows visitors to
experience a variety of perspectives
involved in a street fight by
standing in the center of a canvas
that extends all the way around the
viewer.
Diaz came to Ann Arbor to
unveil the installation and to attend
the opening reception held on the
night of Nov. 2. Select U-M students
enrolled in Spanish courses had the
opportunity to visit the installation
during its opening week and engage
with Diaz himself. The 360° piece
features different participants in
the scene at all angles, ranging
from those involved in the fight,
bystanders and those actively
attempting to stop others from
getting involved. With loose dirt
lining the floor beneath the canvas,
the viewer is drawn into the scene.
Amanda Krugliak, director of
the Institute for the Humanities
Gallery and assistant director for
creative programming, spoke with
The Michigan Daily about the
immersive nature of the piece.
“When it’s installed, (the piece)
takes up a 20 x 20 foot gallery, so
it really envelops the whole space,”
Krugliak said. “Conceptually, the
piece is meant to consider versions
of a narrative or all of the different
ways we come to a story and what
exactly happened … Depending
on whether you’re in the crowd
or whether you’re in the middle,
that really changes the way that
we might experience a story or
something that happens.”
Jacob Napier, gallery coordinator
at the Institute for the Humanities,
described the installation as “a
spectacle” that engages a multitude
of sensory dimensions. Napier said
the installation feels as though it
has become part of the room.
“If you spin around and just
take everything in … it does feel
like there’s a lot more going on, like
the smell of the dirt, the feeling
of being surrounded by all those
people (and) the very faint light
makes it all come together,” Napier
said. “There are even ruffles in
the canvas to give a little more
dimension to certain people being
actually physically closer up to you
than the background people.”
Diaz, who recently became
a professor at the University of
Monterrey in Monterrey, Mexico,
said it has been a “really good
experience” working with the
Institute for the Humanities and
appreciated
the
opportunities
afforded
by
the
Institute
to
engage with students on campus.
The Institute allows community
members to learn about art from
cultures around the world.
Diaz said he wants the piece to
make the spectator feel like the
protagonist of the work. The act of
visiting the installation does not
solely involve viewing the images
on the canvas, Diaz said but asks
the viewer to consider their own
role within the piece.
News
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
ADMINISTRATION
An overview of the past, present and future of energy
consumption at UMich
Design by Sara Fang
ALEXANDRA VENA
Daily Staff Reporter
CAMPUS LIFE
Anyone who has watched ABC’s
Grey’s Anatomy knows the life of
a first-year physician, colloquially
known as “interns,” is arduous, to
say the least. Mindless paperwork,
long hours and ceaseless stress
are hallmarks of the experience.
While stress in health care is hardly
uncommon,
researchers
have
found first-year resident physicians
experience increased rates.
Srijan
Sen,
director
of
the
Eisenberg Family Depression Center,
and senior lab researcher Yu Fang
conducted research using surveys
and data from 2009 to 2020. The
total number of participants was
about 17,000 interns.
The surveys followed a PHQ-9
score — a score based on a set of
questions monitoring the severity
of patients’ depression and their
response to treatments — which
gave researchers an idea of who
could be at risk of depression. On the
scoring sheet, a number above nine is
considered to be at moderate risk for
depression. Interns that volunteered
to be part of the surveys would fill
these out in their last semester as an
intern before becoming a first-year
physician.
According to the study, 33.4%
of the interns that met the criteria
for depression were working more
than 90 hours per week, showing a
correlation between work hours and
depression. The symptom scores
were almost three times as high for
those who worked more than 90
hours per week when compared to
those that worked 40 to 45 hours per
week.
The study proposed having more
employees in the workforce and
making sure physicians do not work
more than 80 hours per week to
help mitigate the risk of depression.
Sen said having more employees
would help currently overworked
physicians have a more balanced
schedule.
“There’s been some progress
over the last few years of reducing
workload,
and
we’ve
seen
a
corresponding
decrease
in
depression,” Sen said. “But there’s a
lot more to do.”
Second-year resident physician at
Michigan Medicine Stefanie Stallard
was a participant in the survey and
said first-year residents are not given
enough time to ease into their jobs.
She said most of the stress faced
by first-year residents may come
from feeling unprepared when
transitioning from being an intern to
a working physician.
“(Resident physicians) have a
whirlwind orientation that is really
focused on logistics more than
anything, like making sure you have
your badge,” Stallard said.
Stallard said just focusing on
reducing the workload and work
hours of physicians, especially first-
year resident physicians, isn’t enough
to combat the stress they face. She
said while it is important to take into
account the correlation between
work hours and risks of depression, it
is not the full picture since it is hard
to tell exactly what “work hours”
mean for an individual resident.
Study finds long work hours place first-year resident
physicians at risk for depression
RESEARCH
Data collected over a decade show correlation between work
hours and mental health illness
JI HOON CHOI
Daily Staff Reporter
4 — Wednesday, November 30, 2022
Salvador Diaz’s ‘La Pelea’ unveiled at the U-M
Institute for the Humanities
The 49-foot mural spotlights various perspectives of a street fight
GRACE LAHTII/Daily
A student looks at the La Pelea exhibit in the Institute for the Humanities Gallery November 14.
MATTHEW SHANBOM
Daily Staff Reporter
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
Japanese pottery takes center
stage at the University of Michigan
Museum of Art’s new exhibition,
Clay as Soft Power, curated by
Natsu Oyobe. On Saturday, the
UMMA opened the exhibit featuring
Japanese Shigaraki ware to examine
how pottery contributed to post-
war Japanese-American relations.
Shigaraki ware, named because
of its production in Japan’s Shiga
prefecture, involves the practice of
using wood fire kilns and special clay,
which create stone bursts, burns and
fire marks.
The exhibit features pieces from
Takahashi Rakusai III, an artist
who helped revive Shigaraki pottery,
as well as his great-granddaughter
Takahashi Yoshiki, the first woman
to head the Takahashi studio. John
Stephenson, late Art & Design
professor, and his wife, Susanne
Stephenson also contributed pieces
in the exhibit. Yoshiki designed
pieces specifically designed for
the exhibit, including “Yoshiko’s
Shigaraki Jar,” which was crafted so
students would be able to touch and
feel the style of Shigaraki.
Oyobe
said
the
display’s
inspiration came from the 50-year
anniversary
celebration
of
the
Japanese state Shiga Prefecture
and Michigan being sister states.
Oyobe said she wanted to celebrate
the anniversary, and decided on
Shigaraki ware as a way to explore
the connection between the two
regions.
“I wanted to do something with
the art of Shiga Prefecture, and
Shigaraki is one of the traditions,”
Oyobe said. “Also I participated in a
workshop back in 2016 introducing
Shigaraki ware to museum curators,
so I spent lots of time there. That’s
when I got really interested in
Shigaraki ware.”
Oyobe
said
throughout
the
process of curating the exhibit, she
became interested in the history of
collecting Shigaraki ware, which
she explained began to make its way
to the U.S. in the period following
WWII.
“(The
collecting)
relates
to
international political and social
circumstances,” Oyobe said. “It was
during the cold war, and Japan was
in the immediate postwar period still
occupied by America and also allied
powers. And for the United States,
it was necessary to change the view
of Japan so that they could get the
public support to be friendly nations.
And so Shigaraki is one of the art
forms to be used as a soft power to
influence the public opinion.”
Oyobe said Shigaraki ware look
different than American wares,
as they were a symbol of Japanese
culture.
“Up until then the ceramic wares
more familiar to the (American)
public were smooth shiny wares,
very decorative types,” Oyobe said.
“Shigaraki ware is a totally different
look. It’s very rustic and some wares
are very deformed intentionally, so
that really shows Japanese simplicity,
not in the image of Japan as a war
enemy. Shigaraki ware was viewed as
an embodiment of Japanese culture.”
LSA
senior
Nami
Kaneko,
president of the Japanese Student
Association (JSA) and a research
assistant for the exhibit, said the Ann
Arbor and U-M communities have a
strong connection with art.
NEWS
Display features Japanese Shigaraki ware, examines political relations
JOSHUA NICHOLSON
Daily Staff Reporter
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
How does the University generate power?
UMMA opens new exhibit ‘Clay as Soft
Power’ on Japanese Pottery