Jan 18 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - John Nolan Dayton Daily News, Ohio


In a first-floor room known informally as the "energy lab," Sinclair Community College has a mock house powered by renewable energy, plus solar power equipment and batteries that can store a solar-generated charge to power the house for days.

A few steps away, students use green-painted information kiosks to view information about energy-efficiency requirements for appliances and energy code requirements for homes and buildings, such as minimum standards for insulation.

"This is the way that the job market is going -- energy efficiency and sustainability," said Howard Ducker, of Butler Twp., a former owner of a window supply company who went back to school in hopes of becoming an architect. "Hopefully, this will make us more marketable."

Sinclair students in architectural technology, construction management, civil engineering and heating-ventilation-air conditioning technology are among those who work in the energy lab. The two-year school is gearing up to begin offering courses this spring or summer in installation of solar power equipment, said Bob Gilbert, an assistant professor of architectural technology who is director of Sinclair's Center for Energy Education.

President-elect Barack Obama has said that encouraging development of alternative energy sources will be a priority for his administration.

"That's why we want to push ahead full-speed with this," Gilbert said.

Sinclair's program is part of a broad effort across Ohio to educate students in renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies and trades, for employment in what are widely acknowledged to be growth industries.

Other initiatives include:

--The Wright Center for Photovoltaics Innovation and Commercialization, created in 2007 as a joint research and development effort of Ohio State University, the University of Toledo and Bowling Green State University. Researchers from the schools work with industry to develop new energy technologies and get them to market.

--In November, Wright State University, the University of Dayton, Central State University and the Air Force Institute of Technology announced they would join forces to offer a two-year program for a master's degree in clean and renewable energy.

--Hocking College, a technical school at Nelsonville in southeastern Ohio, has established an energy institute to offer courses and business assistance programs in wind and solar energy development, biofuels production, fuel cell development and design of energy-efficient buildings.

In 2006, the energy-efficiency and renewable-energy industries combined to generate $971.8 billion in revenues and 8.5 million jobs, including $51 billion in sales and 500,000 jobs in Ohio, according to a consultant's report in 2007 from Management Information Services Inc.

OHIO AND ALTERNATIVE ENERGY: The state is home to companies that make and export parts for wind energy turbines, and the city of Bowling Green operates wind energy turbines that generate electricity for city residents.

But, Ohio has come up short in other renewable energy industries. It is home to only one of 31 photovoltaic manufacturing companies in the nation and none of the country's 25 solar thermal collector manufacturers, according to a consultant's report in 2007. Ohio also ranks behind neighboring states in numbers of solar thermal collectors installed.

Source: Management Information Services Inc.

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