Building energy freedom

solar panel installation for GBGreg Pace, a member of the Clintonville (Ohio) Solar Energy Co-op and a certified photovoltaic installer, presents “Energy Freedom through Local Solar Co-ops” on March 25 at ATI, CFAES’s two-year degree-granting branch in Wooster. He’ll look at non-traditional ways for community groups to finance — and significantly cut the cost of — home solar energy systems. Details.

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 …

Renewable Energy Workshop is Nov. 8 at OARDC in Wooster

OARDC will hold a renewable energy workshop in Wooster Nov. 8. The focus: Wind, solar, and bioenergy. It’s a great chance to hear directly from the experts and, in the afternoon, to visit three places where they’re putting renewable energy into practice. Get the complete program and signup details here (pdf). Note: Register by Nov. 2 and save $10.

Coming Monday, clean energy’s ‘next 50 years’

“Clean energy will define our future. … Public and land-grant universities will define clean energy.” So says the website for a national conference on energy challenges starting this Monday in Columbus. The focus is how public and land-grant universities (such as Ohio State) (thanks to 150 years of the Morrill Act) can solve those challenges. Ohio State is the host and a sponsor.

Green energy? New 2-year program here

Ohio State’s Agricultural Technical Institute, a part of our college in Wooster, now offers a two-year degree program in renewable energy. Students in the program specialize in bioenergy or in solar energy and wind energy, complete a paid internship, and gain the skills they need to go on to successful careers in the industry. That industry, say the program’s organizers, is projected to grow worldwide nearly 10 times from 2007 to 2030, to $630 billion. Printable fact sheet here (pdf).