Universities across state team up to develop clean energy technology

BYLINE: Carrie Ghose

Instead of working in isolation on developing clean and renewable sources of energy, researchers at 15 Ohio universities think they can reach critical mass for an economic boom if they join forces.

The state's 13 public universities and two of its private colleges on April 23 formed the University Clean Energy Alliance of Ohio. The idea sparked from several schools' work last summer on Ohio's unsuccessful bid to land the U.S. Department of Energy's planned low-emissions coal power plant, known as FutureGen.

The group pledges to collaborate on research and even on licensing of any technology that can be taken to the marketplace, said Jeff Daniels, associate dean of Ohio State University's College of Mathematics and Physical Sciences. Other goals include educating the public and leading the debate on a state energy policy.

Gov. Ted Strickland said the alliance can make Ohio a leader in developing the next generation of energy technology.

"The economy and the environment are often portrayed as opposing interests," he told the group. "A forward-thinking approach strengthens both. And that's what this alliance represents."

Policy changes coming

After years of naysaying from the highest levels of the U.S. government on the effects of global warming, there's a sudden surge of interest at the federal and state levels in environmental issues.

In Columbus this week, the top scientist from Environmental Defense, an environmental advocacy group, talked to business executives about reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and OSU's John Glenn School of Public Affairs sponsored a public lecture on climate change.

In Washington, D.C., the conservative U.S. Supreme Court this month ruled the Environmental Protection Agency must regulate carbon dioxide under the Clean Air Act if it's found to endanger public health, and Congress began debating energy legislation that includes a cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Under the system, the government would set a nationwide percentage target for reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and businesses that exceed the goal by a certain number of percentage points could sell that reduction as "credits" to others that are struggling to make the cuts.

The approach was used in the 1990s to reduce acid rain emissions, and industry met the goals ahead of time and at one-third the projected cost, said Bill Chameides, chief scientist at Environmental Defense, which works with businesses to help them find ways to make money off helping the environment.

"Capitalism is a great way to get people to do the right thing," he said.

Ohio has a big stake in any federal energy policy or regulations on carbon emissions.

Strickland noted Ohio, as a manufacturing hub, is the nation's fifth-largest energy consumer. Most of that energy comes from coal-burning power plants, among the top contributors to increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Ohio ranked fourth in 2004 carbon dioxide emissions at 262 million metric tons, according to a report from the Public Interest Research Group. The amount was calculated from federal data on fossil fuels burned in each state.

Ohio shouldn't wait to start the discussion just because rules aren't written yet, said Mark Shanahan, Ohio's first cabinet-level energy adviser to the governor.

"How we solve that problem could be a significant economic growth area," he said.

The state's manufacturers are known for making components, such as auto parts or jet engines, Shanahan said, so why not evolve into making parts for solar panels and wind turbines?

Traditional sources of energy are cheapnow, Chameides said, but a cap-and-trade system would create a profit motive for innovation.

"The technologies being developed by this partnership would suddenly have investors," he said.

A focus on clean energy could help Ohio build entirely new industries, not just individual companies, said Benson Lee, CEO of Technology Management Inc., a Cleveland fuel cell maker.

He was among business panelists coaching some 200 professors and students at the alliance's inaugural meeting.

Barriers inevitably arise in jumping the gap from pure science to pure profit.

Inventors of everything from cell phones to fuel cells at first face an economy where there is absolutely no market for the product.

"We have to do what's called missionary marketing," Lee said. "We have to create the market we can sell to."

There's also a cultural gap between academia and investors.

"You can't go to somebody with a big plan that's four notebooks big," said Alex Stillpass, a Cincinnati investment banker. "They just want to know, 'What's my return?' "

University Clean Energy Alliance of Ohio

Public university members: Akron, Bowling Green State, Central State, Cleveland State, Cincinnati, Kent State, Miami, Ohio State, Ohio, Shawnee State, Toledo, Wright State, Youngstown State Private university members: Case Western Reserve, Dayton