The thing is a wind generator that Crowder hopes to erect by this summer. It will stand 125 feet tall at the hub, with three blades with a 55-foot diameter.

"It's both a tremendous teaching tool and will make a difference on the bottom line," said Art Boyt, director of renewable energy at Crowder.

For decades, Boyt has helped Crowder build a reputation as a David among Goliaths, competing in solar challenges against many larger universities.

Near the three fiberglass blades for the generator stands a semitrailer loaded with the solar home that Boyt and Crowder students recently took to Washington, D.C., as part of the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon II. The mold for the solar cars that the school has raced around the world sits near the tower.

The generator itself, weighing 8 tons, sits beneath a smaller turbine, with blades not much bigger than the propeller of a child's airplane, turning in a warm winter breeze. That small generator kicks out up to 200 watts, which Boyt uses to charge the batteries for the school's solar cars.

This giant, though, will pull 65,000 watts out of the air - literally.

Boyt said that's enough to power 20 to 25 homes. When it is up and running, Crowder will get the benefit, and it could save the school $500 to $1,000 a month on its electric bill. The supplemental energy will be sold to Empire District Electric Co.

The turbine is a part of the school's focus on renewable energy, said Boyt, and is being directly funded by the MARET Center's operations budget. The MARET Center has received operational money from the state and construction money from a federal appropriation sought by U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt, who has said the center will explore renewable energy and conservation practices.

During a tour of the campus in Boyt's Toyota Prius - averaging 48 miles per gallon, he noted - Boyt said the center will have 27,500 square feet of wind- and solar-powered laboratory and classroom space, a business incubator and more.

Another goal of the turbine, he said, is measuring the potential for wind energy in Southwest Missouri.

"The turbine will be one of the largest turbines in the state of Missouri," Boyt said.

Rick Anderson, an energy policy analyst with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, said some surveys have been made of Missouri's wind potential, ranking the state in the middle, with places such as Kansas coming out near the top.

But new information is needed, based on evolving technology, such as the ability to erect taller wind generators.

Amy Bass, spokeswoman for Empire District Electric Co., said the utility, which serves Joplin and other areas in Southwest Missouri, began receiving power last fall from the Elk River Wind Farm. The 150-megawatt wind farm, near Beaumont, Kan., generates enough power to meet the annual needs of about 42,000 homes.

"We are very pleased with the amount of energy we are able to receive from the wind farm project," Bass said.

Over long periods, such as a year, it's possible to estimate the amount of power a wind turbine may generate, Boyt said, but anticipating wind at a particular hour on a given day is a bigger gamble. He said wind is cost-competitive with other sources of electricity, such as coal, noting that a wind farm on a good site generates electricity with a cost of about 2 cents per kilowatt-hour.

"For the foreseeable future, it makes tremendous sense," Boyt said of wind generation.