Renewable-energy center near completion at Crowder
Sometime during the spring semester, Crowder College students will start walking into the future on a daily basis.
Their doorway will be the front entrance of the Missouri Alternative Renewable Energy Technology Center, which officials say will be the only one of its kind on a college campus in the country.
Final touches on the $7 million-plus, 27,000-square-foot MARET Center are being completed, with officials describing it as the cutting edge in education, applied research and entrepreneurial development in the growing field of green technology.
Once it is up and running, said Russell Hopper, executive director, the only similar thing in the U.S. will be U.S. Department of Energy’s Renewable Energy Lab in Golden, Colo.
Hopper said, along with providing classroom and office space, the MARET Center will be a technology demonstration laboratory. Many of the green technologies used in the building, which might be hidden in a commercial or residential structure, will remain exposed as an educational resource for students and professors.
The center will be a net positive energy structure, he said, meaning it will produce more energy than it uses. The surplus energy will be sold to Empire District Electric Co., Crowder’s electrical-service provider. Hopper said under ideal conditions, the building will generate about six kilowatts per-hour of electricity from the 290 solar panels arrayed on its roof, and about 65 kilowatts per-hour from the large wind turbine located just in front of the building.
Hopper said the structure will also save energy by using geothermal heating and cooling techniques that tap into the constant temperature of the Earth to either heat or cool the building.
He said rain barrels surrounding the building will catch rainwater runoff to irrigate the building’s lawn. The center will also incorporate hybrid solar cells, which provide both heat and electric power. Hopper said the hybrid cells, which were developed at Crowder, represent a major advancement in solar technology.
It ironically was concern for the environment that postponed construction of the MARET Center for nearly a year. After being authorized for a $5.39 million grant by the Department of Energy in 2008, construction, which was scheduled to begin in the spring of 2009, was delayed by an environmental assessment and concern by the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife that construction could harm the Ozark cavefish, an endangered species native to the caves and springs in the area. Crowder finally got the green light in October 2010 and broke ground on the building in March.
U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., assisted in securing funding for the project and negotiating with Fish and Wildlife officials on Crowder’s behalf. In a statement Tuesday, Blunt said he sees a clear link between green technology and job creation.
“When it comes to renewable energy technology, the research that we’re doing across Missouri has a great impact throughout the region and nationwide,” he said. “More American energy means more American jobs, and programs like this are critical as we look for new and innovative ways to help spur more private sector job growth.”
Hopper said the MARET Center will play an important role as the U.S. tries to stay in the forefront of the worldwide race to develop renewable energy.
“We’re in competition with the rest of the world, and they are applying this type of technology,” he said. “If they own it and we have to buy it from them, it will be very expensive down the road. If we develop it here, we will have the wherewithal then to utilize it without having to pay extra, so schools like Crowder, Missouri S&T, Cal Tech, MIT and Stanford are the engine of innovation, and we need to maintain that.”
-Josh Letner
