Coal Free Mizzou hosts expert panel

Four panelists spoke about steps Missouri can take towards clean energy.

By Megan Donohue

Published Feb. 12, 2010

Coal Free Mizzou hosted a Clean Energy Panel at 6 p.m. Wednesday night in the Fred W. Smith Forum, where a panel of four energy experts spoke and then answered questions.

Coal Free Mizzou Co-chairwoman Mallory Schillinger said its main goal was to inform.

"People always have questions and they don't know exactly where to go, so we might as well round up everyone and make them come here," Schillinger said.

MU Sustainability Coordinator Steve Burdic was first to speak. He focused on the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment and what MU is doing to reduce its carbon footprint.

He mentioned research MU is doing on renewable energy and ways to conserve energy and said MU is committed to reducing or eliminating coal use.

Burdic took the economy into consideration as well.

"We are not going to bankrupt ourselves to stop burning coal," Burdic said.

Jan Weaver, director of the environmental studies program, spoke next.

"For Missouri, it looks like, with the business-as-usual scenario, if we keep emitting greenhouse gasses at the current rate, we are going to move about two states down and one state west, so we will be somewhere between Houston, Texas and Laredo," Weaver said. "This will have a huge impact on Missouri agriculture."

Weaver also talked about potential alternative energy sources for MU and Missouri.

"We are not well situated for wind or for solar where the technologies are right now," Weaver said. "There may be things on the horizon that will make Missouri much more competitive in those areas, but right now there are very few places in Missouri where you can get sufficient wind generation."

One area with major possibilities is biomass, Weaver said.

"The best way for Missouri to go is wood," Weaver said. "We have a lot of biomass."

Through thinning our forests, Weaver said, we could provide up to 25 percent of our energy needs.

Research is still being done on how to sustainably thin forests and harvest other biofuels for a sustained period of time.

Sierra Club lawyer and volunteer Henry Robertson spoke next, and focused on potential legislative, efficient and conservation measures that can be taken while research on renewable energy continues.

He suggested building efficiency codes, which would require buildings to be built in ways that make them more energy efficient, and Combined Heat and Power, which yield energy and heat from one source instead of two.

"We need to motivate utilities to do efficiency, because right now they make more money selling electricity," Robertson said. "The more they sell, the more they make. It's not in their interest to sell less energy, but it is in our interest."

Finally, alumnus Jim Pierobon, vice president of policy and marketing at Standard Solar Inc., used Skype from his home in Maryland to speak, and focused on solar energy options for campuses like MU.

"Collectively, all of these flat roofed buildings and parking garages, together with the open spaces that are next to the Hearnes Center and Mizzou Arena and other places can generate megawatts worth of electricity," Pierobon said. "They can also serve as living laboratories for alternative energy classes."

He also suggested a Power Purchase Agreement, in which MU would allow a solar system to be constructed on campus and agree to buy power from that system for a certain amount of time.

This would have no up-front costs because MU would not own the system and wouldn't have to pay for installation. "I think we can do more," Pierobon said. "I think we must do more."