Month: April 2018

Cool rides

Seen just now at the green car cruise-in at the Scarlet, Gray and Green Fair at CFAES Wooster: a red Chevy Bolt (electric, 238-mile range), a red Chevy Volt (extended range electric), a sharp white futuristic first-generation Nissan Leaf (electric), a cool space-pod-looking Mitsubishi i-MiEV (electric; range, about 60 miles), a red Ford C-MAX (gas-electric hybrid), CFAES scientist Fred Michel’s green Ford Escape hybrid with custom after-market roof-mounted solar panel, and a sleek dark-blue Tesla Model S 100D (electric, 351-mile range).

The fair and cruise-in go until 4 p.m. today. At 1 p.m., the parking lot, next to CFAES Wooster’s Fisher Auditorium, was filling fast but still had plenty of spaces. The food trucks smelled fantastic.

Green cars will cruise in on Thursday

CFAES Wooster’s Scarlet, Gray and Green Fair on Thursday will have, among other things, a green car cruise-in. You can check out a range of alternative-fuel cars and trucks — biogas, biodiesel, ethanol, electricity and hybrid systems — and talk to their owners, too. Among them should be a Tesla. (Photo: iStock.)

Shine a light on adding solar

If you’re thinking about adding solar energy to your home, farm or business, check out Thursday’s Scarlet, Gray and Green Fair in Wooster.

The fair’s free Renewable Energy Workshop (10 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.) will have sessions about the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Energy for America Program and the Washington, D.C.-based Solar United Neighbors effort, as well as a panel discussion by representatives from four Ohio solar installers: Harvest Energy Solutions (Delaware), Dovetail Solar and Wind (Cleveland), Paradise Energy Solutions (Sugarcreek) and Third Sun Solar (Athens).

Those four installers also will have exhibits at the fair and staff to answer your questions, as will The Lighthouse Installation (Fredericksburg) and YellowLite (Cleveland).

It’s a good chance to learn how solar works, to see if and how it could work for you, and to get a feel for companies you could work with. Admission to the fair is free.

A deep dive into water on Friday

CFAES’s 2018 Annual Research Conference, set for Friday, April 27, in Wooster, will feature 16 speakers on the theme “Meeting the Water Quality Challenge: Collaborative and Interdisciplinary Science to Improve Water Quality in Ohio.” Reporters, bloggers and the public are welcome to attend.

Find out more.

Sunshine? Super, man

What’s the forecast for CFAES Wooster’s Scarlet, Gray and Green Fair on Thursday? To quote Leonard in “The School of Rock”: blue. The National Weather Service predicts mostly sunny skies and a high of nearly 60 degrees. Which is especially fitting because there’s a lot to see and learn about solar energy there. (Photo: iStock.)

Scarlet, Gray and Green Fair is Thursday

The Scarlet, Gray and Green Fair, a festival celebrating sustainability and green living, will take place on Thursday, April 26, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in and around Fisher Auditorium at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC), 1680 Madison Ave., Wooster. Admission is free and open to the public.

Continue reading Scarlet, Gray and Green Fair is Thursday →

Sure, you love seeing wildlife, but what should you do when THIS happens?

Today (April 23) is the deadline to register for “The Good, the Bad and the Hungry: Managing Wildlife Conflict Around Your Home,” a workshop offered by CFAES’s Ohio Woodland Stewards Program on Friday, April 27, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in 229 Riedl Hall, 1760 University Drive, at Ohio State’s Mansfield campus. Registration is $35 and includes lunch. Register online.

Continue reading Sure, you love seeing wildlife, but what should you do when THIS happens? →

Now THAT sounds intriguing

Hanping Wang, director of CFAES’s Ohio Aquaculture Research and Development Integration Program, has succeeded in raising faster-growing fish — yellow perch and bluegills — “by artificially mating them in a not so typical way.” Ultimately, the breakthrough should have benefits to keeping Ohio fish farmers profitable, producing healthy protein for people and preventing overfishing of wild fish for food. It’s one of our CFAES Stories.