Increasing access to clean energy--that's a major goal of a new renewable energy education center at Delaware State University in Dover.
A secondary goal of the brand new state-of-the-art center, housed inside the university's Luna I. Mishoe Science Center, is to prepare a new generation to be able to work in this field.
"We want to ensure that our students have an opportunity to learn about renewable energy--be it solar, or wind, or geothermal, biomass," said William Pickrum, the center's program manager.
The center was made possible through $720,000 in grants over four years from energy giants, Delmarva Power, Exelon and Pepco Holdings.
"We look out on our system every day and we see solar being installed, small-scale wind being installed in the states around us--all kinds of innovative new technology around renewable energy," said Gary Stockbridge, President of Delmarva Power. "We see a need in the education community to make sure that we're feeding that, so that students are coming out prepared in Delaware to work in those jobs."
U.S. Senator Tom Carper said the center will also help the state work towards its goal its goal of getting 25 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2025.
"There's a huge amount of carbon dioxide in the air--more than any time in apparently hundreds of thousands of years...we need to find ways to generate electricity for our businsses, for our families in ways that do not do damage to our atmosphere and put us at risk," said Carper.
Carper also pointed to the need given Delaware's status as one of the lowest-lying states in the U.S.--that's worsening through sea level rise.
source: http://www.wdel.com
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