July 17, 2006

Sylvania to look at renewable energy

Following a series of meetings, Keith Haddad, chairman of Sylvania City Council's utilities committee, has arranged a Council Committee Meeting of the Whole in an effort to bring the promise of renewable energy to the community. Tentatively, the meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on Monday, Aug.

21 in council chambers and will feature presentations by champions of both solar and wind power.

Daryl Stockburger, retired director of utilities in Bowling Green, is known as the father of Bowling Green's wind farm and will address that subject.

Mr. Stockburger is currently chief project consultant for North Coast Wind and Power based in Sandusky. Also speaking will be Al Compaan, Phd., director of the center for materials science and engineering at The University of Toledo. Mr. Compaan heads up the cadmium/telluride photovoltaics program and arranged for the solar panel installation on the United Church of Christ on Erie Street. UT is the lead organization in a consortium of universities and major companies that will position northwest Ohio as the ³Silicon Valley of Solar Energy."

Local interest in these two forms of energy is heightened by environmental concerns. Several Sylvania public facilities are large users of electricity, among them Pacesetter Park, the Senior Center and Tam-O-Shanter, where the skating facility's electric bill runs to $17,000 per month. Installations of new systems will create local jobs. Haddad is also deeply interested in bringing the sciences of wind and solar energies into the school district's classrooms, preparing students for careers in renewable energy.

Special invitations will be extended to the Sylvania Township trustees and the new administrator Hugh Thomas, school administrators and members of the board of education and Ron Tipton, plant manager of Hanson's Quarry Operations.

The public is also invited.

Jack MacMillan
For Sylvania AdVantage