Advanced and Alternative Energy : Buzz

In 1804, Ohio University became the first university established in Ohio. The ninth oldest public university in the United States, OU set up camp in Athens, Ohio, and the 20,000 students who call it home each year swell the population of the city only to leave once summer arrives.

But not Geoff and Michelle Greenfield. After completing their master’s degrees at OU, the couple decided to make Athens their home. They installed some solar systems on their off-the-grid home in 1997, and the community took notice. People started inquiring about how they did it and if they would help on new projects. What started out as a hobby job grew organically into a small solar business for the Greenfields.

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Ohio is making history as a leader in the fuel cell industry from the perspective of technology development and manufacturing, including both system integration and supply chain.

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Recently, FirstEnergy Corp. of Akron recommended to the Ohio Legislature changes to Ohio's energy efficiency portfolio that would essentially freeze the energy efficiency mandate found in Senate Bill 221 at current levels. As currently written, Senate Bill 221 calls for Investor Owned Utilities (IOUs) to undertake energy efficiency improvements by 2025 equal to 22% of 2008's energy consumption. FirstEnergy's proposed changes would end the mandate at the less than 3% cumulative reduction required to date.

Ohio's Legislature should consider carefully any request to alter Ohio's course on energy efficiency. For many reasons, a reduction in the energy efficiency goal does not appear to be a good idea at this time.

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Many entrepreneurs who once envisioned their fledgling clean-tech start-ups becoming the next big thing are now downsizing their dreams.
Newer start-ups attracting investor interest have more modest aims than their clean-tech peers of a decade ago. The new batch expect to generate revenue more quickly and cheaply, and are focusing on making existing industries more efficient and sustainable, building upon the clean-tech infrastructure such as smart meters that have become widespread.

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Ohio State University has agreed to buy 50 megawatts of wind energy – equivalent to 26 percent of power consumption on the Columbus main campus – from the Blue Creek Wind Farm in northwest Ohio.

The agreement is one of the largest purchases of wind power by a North American entity that is not a utility, the school said.

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The nation’s wind energy industry is growing, and that’s helping Ohio, according to a new report by an environmental group. The Natural Resources Defense Council says its new study finds that a wind farm, consisting of something like 10 wind turbines, creates a lot of jobs.

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Eight universities across Ohio have been designated as Centers of Excellence in Advanced Energy, reports the Business Journal, of Youngstown.

The designations position Ohio's universities to lure new talent and leadership to promote innovation and entrepreneurial activity, state officials said.

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Lake, Ashtabula and especially Geauga counties could become Ohio's first wind farm vista since such energy production was pioneered in Ohio at Bowling Green State University in Wood County, reports the News-Herald.

"Some studies do say the Northeast Ohio area could be No. 1 and first for wind farms with perceptions of all the wind coming off Lake Erie," said state Sen. Tim Grendell, R-Chester Township, whose district includes all of Lake and Geauga counties as a major part of Legacy Renewable Energy Development's proposed total $120 million tri-county project.

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Lebanon Citizens National Bank has partnered with E.F. Bavis & Associates, Inc., to create the world's first solar powered drive-thru in the banking and pharmaceutical industries, reports Soapbox.

E.F. Bavis & Associates says that the drive-thru is powered by a 26-inch by 40-inch solar panel that is designed specifically for Ohio sunlight conditions and will charge a 12-volt battery. The battery will then be used to power the drive-thru's non-pneumatic delivery system which uses "an intelligent sensor monitored, positive-drive conveyor tape delivery system engineered to use less than one-tenth the normal amount of electricity required by normal pneumatic tube delivery systems."

Original source: Soapbox
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Northwest Ohio soon will be home to one of the largest solar energy fields in the eastern United States, reports The Blade.

Construction will begin as early as next month on an 83-acre solar field outside of Upper Sandusky. It will use over 165,000 panels from First Solar Inc. to supply electricity to 6,000 homes. First Solar, born in Toledo but now based in Arizona, has its only North American solar-panel making plant in Perrysburg Township.

Original source: The Toledo Blade
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An Ohio partnership wants to set up a series of retail biodiesel fuel stations along U.S. Route 33 between Columbus and the Ohio River, reports Biodiesel Magazine.

Non-profits Rural Action Inc. and Clean Fuels Ohio along with Hocking College Energy Institute are promoting the use of biodiesel along the highway corridor. The objective is to have at least six retail biodiesel fueling points and buses from at least three school districts using biodiesel along the four-county route.

Original source: Biodiesel Magazine
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