SOLAR TODAY - July/August 2011

The Hands-On Energy Classroom

The hocking College Energy Institute was designed to be a working lab. Students gain firsthand experience with its ground-source heat pumps, a photovoltaic array, a small wind turbine, solar water heating and stations for compressed natural gas refueling and electric vehicle recharging.

The LEED Platinum Hocking
College Energy Institute is a
teaching lab, offering students
direct access to advanced
energy systems.

In a state ripe for green-collar jobs, the Hock- ing College Energy Institute in Southeast Ohio offers a working lab where students can see, touch and demonstrate the latest renewable energy and efficiency technolo- gies. The technical college’s new LEED Platinum building conveys modern ambitions amid rolling Appalachian foothills. Through entry doors wide enough to accommodate a car, a multipurpose space of exposed infrastructure and sealed concrete floors narrows to administrative offices and daylit classrooms.

“The whole idea was that the building needs to teach the students, to be an example of what they ought to be aspiring to,” said Jack Hedge, project designer and chairman of Columbus-based DesignGroup. An AIA Fellow, longtime member of the American Solar Energy Society and board member of its Ohio chapter, Green Energy Ohio, Hedge has been practicing sustainable design for nearly four decades.

“But also it was very open, so you could try different things as these technologies evolve,” Hedge continued. The building showcases pip-

DesigngroUP

ing and pumps from the ground-source heat pumps, a 21.2-kilowatt photovoltaic (PV) array, a small wind turbine, solar water heating and an advanced vehicle area with stations for compressed natural gas (CNG) refueling and electric vehicle (EV) recharging. Faculty and students can access the mechanical systems directly and move partitioning walls to reallocate space in the multi-use lobby.