Oct 25 2010
Kettering University has been granted funds amounting to $50,000 by the Ford Motor Company Fund’s 2010 Ford C3 ( College Community Challenge), for carrying out an energy audit and also crafting a geothermal system, to be utilized in a gardening greenhouse project in an urban setting.
Professor Matthew Sanders and his senior class of Industrial Engineering capstone students teamed up with Harvesting Earth Educational Farms located at Urban Flint to develop a low-cost, yet a practical technique, for employing renewable energy resources in the farm’s greenhouse.
According to Sanders, the Ford Funds would pay for the geothermal kit and solar panels, to lengthen the growing season in the greenhouse in return for a small capital investment. They could be installed without much effort for expansion purposes. He revealed that the geothermal heat pump system was a very efficient system making use of the earth’s relatively constant temperature to heat up liquids, which are then sent through pipes in the greenhouse and released as heat energy. This would permit Harvesting Earth Farms to cultivate vegetables such as onions, tomatoes, greens and potatoes throughout the year for sales at the Farmers Market in Flint, Mich.
The Ford C3 established in 2008 is a nationwide challenge grant competition forum that identifies universities and colleges using the resources available to them for betterment of the community. The current year’s theme is ‘Building Sustainable Communities using alternative energy in a unique way’. The bottom line for Ford C3 is that Colleges should develop project proposals, incorporating leadership, involvement and input from the students through all the stages from conception to the finish line.
According to Ford Motor Company Fund’s Director (Education and Community Development), Mike Schmidt, every year five entries are chosen for receiving this award. The Kettering proposal was recognized as it offers a teamwork or joint effort between the community and the university to enhance the community’s greenhouse growing season.
Furthermore, Sanders confirmed that in the long run, this project would also be a source of sustained employment for the inhabitants of a depressed neighborhood and also create future classroom training materials, which would help local agencies and the government to gain insight into usage of geothermal or solar energy, in huge renovated structures or new buildings to decrease purchase of grid-based energy.