U of I scraps wind-turbine plan to save money

CHAMPAIGN -- The University of Illinois has scrapped a plan to erect an energy-generating wind turbine on its Urbana-Champaign campus because it needs the money elsewhere.

Chancellor Richard Hermann on Thursday told General Electric Company that the university won't buy the turbine.

Professor Dick Warner of the university's Office of Sustainability says the school needs to spend the $4.6 million budgeted for the turbine to help address the campus' deteriorating infrastructure.

University President Joseph White recently told school leaders to look for ways to save money.

Jack Dempsey, who is executive director of Facilities and Services at the university, says the turbine was symbolically important but wouldn't have generated much of the campus' energy.