Want to study, get a job in solar energy? 1 day till Wooster’s green fair

solar panel installation“Employment of solar photovoltaic (PV) installers is projected to grow 24 percent from 2012 to 2022, much faster than the average for all occupations,” according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook. If you’re interested in studying and getting a job in solar energy, come to the Wooster Scarlet, Gray and Green Fair tomorrow, April 22 — Earth Day. Faculty from the Renewable Energy Program at CFAES’s Agricultural Technical Institute in Wooster will staff an exhibit and will be happy to talk with you!

Toot toot, chugga chugga, compact maybe-red-but-definitely-green car! 4 days till Wooster’s green fair

chevy voltOn Tuesday you’ll see ways that “green is for life,” including for getting around. The Wooster Scarlet, Gray and Green Fair, April 22 at OARDC, will have eco-friendlier rides among its 60-plus exhibits. Among them: The Chevy Volt, the extended-range electric car. The Honda Accord Hybrid, rated at 45 mpg highway, 50 mpg city. The Buehler’s grocery chain’s “greasel”-fueled (waste vegetable oil) Volkswagen Jetta TDI. Ford’s more fuel-efficient Transit Connect commercial truck. And compressed natural gas-powered vehicles run by Smith Dairy and the Wayne County Engineer’s Office. A lot to see and sing about! (You’re gonna hear that all day long.) (Photo copyright: General Motors.)

Give it the gas? Listen to this: 19 days till Wooster’s green fair

OARDC Compressed Natural Gas CarFive speakers set for the Wooster Scarlet, Gray and Green Fair have gas. And they plan to let you know it. A talk and panel discussion at the event will expand on compressed natural gas, or CNG. How does it work as a vehicle fuel? Is it cheaper? Greener? The speakers, including from Orrville’s Smith Dairy, Wooster’s Pallotta Ford Lincoln and the Wayne County Engineer’s Office, have know-how on using CNG and converting cars and trucks to run on it. The fair is on Earth Day, April 22, at CFAES’s OARDC in Wooster. Fun fact: OARDC itself is testing CNG vehicles in its fleet. (Photo: K.D. Chamberlain.)

For CFAES’s Fred Michel, sustainability is a way of life

Fred MichelNot too many people drive around with a solar panel on top of their cars. For CFAES scientist Fred Michel, it’s just another way he’s trying to make sustainability an important part of everything he does — at work, in his community and at home. Read the story. (Photo: K.D. Chamberlain.)

Learn all about running vehicles on CNG at this workshop

OARDC Compressed Natural Gas CarGot questions about running your car or truck on compressed natural gas (CNG)? Come to the Renewable Energy Workshop Nov. 19 at the Wooster campus of CFAES’s research arm, OARDC, to learn more about this alternative fuel. Speakers will discuss safety, mileage, conversion and new vehicle options. Find out how the current shale gas play can help foster increased CNG from renewable sources. Download the workshop agenda and registration form (pdf).

Good, clean energy from, at breakfast

“Some days, it’s a good day to have breakfast,” says Thomas Builds-the-Fire in the wonderful “Smoke Signals.” And one of those days is Sept. 11, when the Environmental Professionals Network holds its next breakfast program (which you can say has to do with smoke in that it will look at how to reduce it). Called “Achieving Clean Energy Goals: Meeting Technical and Policy Challenges,” the program features a panel discussion by experts from Ohio State and the utility industry. And, as always, breakfast. Register by Sept. 6. (In fact, according to CFAES’s science-based Chow Line nutrition column, it’s always a good day to have breakfast if you can.)

Distributed energy powers up in Ohio

solar panel with sun for GBMore and more farms, schools, and businesses in Ohio are producing their own renewable energy — through onsite wind and solar systems, for instance, which collectively go by the name distributed energy. And more and more, CFAES’s statewide outreach arm, OSU Extension, is lending its expertise to help them do it. Read the story …

Friday: A way to get energy from water?

Bruce Logan

Microbial fuel cells are the focus of a seminar Friday (4/12) sponsored by Ohio State’s Environmental Science Graduate Program. Penn State’s Bruce Logan, pictured, presents “Energy from Water: Microbial Fuel Cell Technologies Meet Salinity Gradient Energy” at 3 p.m. in 021 Lazenby Hall on Ohio State’s campus in Columbus. There’s also a video link to 121 Fisher Auditorium on OARDC’s Wooster campus, 1680 Madison Ave. Free. All are welcome. (See later posts here and here.) (Photo: Penn State.)