Renewable Energy Workshop Set for Nov. 12 in Wooster

WOOSTER, Ohio – Experts from industry and academia will share their expertise on emerging green energy opportunities during a daylong workshop to be held Nov. 12 on the Wooster campus of Ohio State University’s Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center.

The annual Renewable Energy Workshop will include presentations, case studies, a trade show and tours of local green energy operations dealing with a variety of technologies — solar, biomass, anaerobic digestion and bioproducts. It will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., starting at the center’s Fisher Auditorium, 1680 Madison Ave., Wooster.

Registration, which includes continental breakfast and lunch, costs $40 per person if paid before Nov. 4. The cost goes up to $50 if paid after that date. Registration for college students is $20. To register, fill out the form available at go.osu.edu/qvv and mail, along with payment, to Mary Wicks, OARDC/OSU, 1680 Madison Ave., Wooster, OH 44691.

“Although energy prices have become lower due to the development of shale gas in recent years, research and development on green energy and materials is still greatly needed to improve global sustainability and meet the energy needs of our future generations,” said Yebo Li, biosystems engineer and head of the Bioenergy and Bioproducts Lab at OARDC.

OARDC is the research arm of Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.

The workshop will begin with presentations about the sustainability of renewable energy. Joseph Fiskel, executive director of Ohio State’s Center for Resilience, will talk about “Challenges and Opportunities.” Then, Ajay Shah, assistant professor in the Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, will offer a “Techno-Economic Analysis” of renewable energy technologies.

The workshop will continue with renewable energy case studies and examples of byproduct utilization:

• “Solar: Environmental and Economic Impacts,” Fred Michel, Ohio State.

• “Bioenergy: Environmental and Economic Impacts,” Barry McGraw, Ohio Soybean Council.

• “Effluent from Anaerobic Digestion,” Clemens Halene, quasar energy group.

• “By-products of Biofuel Production,” Li.

Following lunch, there will be a tour of two facilities engaged in bioproducts and bioenergy work: Ohio State’s pilot-scale plant for the processing of alternative, domestic sources of natural rubber such as Russian dandelions and guayule; and the city of Wooster’s wastewater treatment plant, which was recently retrofitted by quasar to become a “resource recovery” facility that provides state-of-the-art water processing and anaerobic digestion of waste to generate energy.

“Workshop attendees will benefit from the technical, economic and sustainability analysis of different renewable energy technologies,” Li said. “This will help them to make decisions on the selection of technologies and products that meet their needs and have a lower carbon footprint.”

Exhibitors at the workshop will include quasar, BioHio Research Park, the Wayne County Sustainable Energy Network and Ohio State's Office of Energy and Environment.

The workshop is sponsored by various CFAES entities, including the Program for Bioproducts and the Environment, the Bioenergy and Bioproducts Lab, OBIC Bioproducts Innovation Center and the Agricultural Technical Institute’s Renewable Energy Program.

Professional engineers attending the workshop will receive 4.0 continuing professional development hours.

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