Student develops own wind-energy business

Greg Hering, Tufts ‘10, has founded his own wind-energy business thanks to the guidance provided by Tufts’ Entrepreneurial Leadership Program. Emergent Energy, operated by Tufts students with majors as diverse as international relations, English, and engineering, consults on wind-power projects. Clients include a school in northern Maine, an electric co-operative in rural New England, and a developer in southeastern Massachusetts. The goal: cleaner energy for an oil-dependent world.

Hering and his group have created models of windstreams and landscapes that help to determine the ideal placement for wind turbines. Emergent Energy hopes to build a wind farm of its own by 2011 and to promote the benefits of alternative energy through collaboration with like-minded non-profit groups.

Hering has been researching alternative energy sources since high school, but it wasn’t until he got to Tufts that he found the support he needed through the Entrepreneurial Leadership Program.

"The typical company has a scientist who develops the technology and a businessperson who takes it to market," Hering says. "This program has taught me to be both. It got me on my feet and taught me how to start an excellent company."

Alumni like Noah Eckhouse, E88, have been mentors, he says. "I’m grateful to be in a community of entrepreneurs who help each other."