Iowa State University aerospace engineering professor Hui Hu has received a three-year $303,587 grant from the Iowa Energy Center to support research exploring ice formation on wind turbine blades, which could make a difference in Iowans’ energy bills, ISU reports. The grant supports Hu’s lab work in the Aircraft Icing Physics and Anti-/De-icing Technology Laboratory, which Hu founded seven years ago at ISU. “Iowa winters are supposed to be the best season for wind energy harvesting due to the abundant wind resources and increased air density with decreasing temperatures,” Hu and his research group wrote in a description of their project. “However, ice accretion on turbine blades was found to decrease a turbine’s power produce significantly (i.e. up to 50% reduction at critical icing sites.)”