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Lane Community College, Eugene, Oregon
For release April 25, 2011
LCC Downtown Campus project wins $100,000 EWEB grant
EUGENE, OR - Lane Community College's future Downtown Campus facility on Saturday won a $100,000 Greenpower grant from the Eugene Water & Electric Board.
The LCC project – chosen by a vote of the utility's 3,500-plus Greenpower customers – will include a 12-kilovolt photovoltaic array on the roof of the planned 90,000-square-foot academic building. EWEB Commissioner John Simpson announced the award Saturday afternoon during Eugene's Earth Day Celebration.
Site preparation of the future Downtown Campus, at 10th Avenue and Charnelton Street, started earlier this month, with construction slated to begin this summer. The facility, which will include an 87,000-square-foot residence building that will house up to 250 students, is expected to be complete in the fall of 2012.
A key design goal for the Downtown Campus is that it be "a building that teaches." The design will showcase many of the sustainable features of the facility, which is aiming for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
"This solar project that we will put on the roof of our building will be a great addition toward our goal of a LEED Platinum certification," said LCC President Mary Spilde. "Thank you, Greenpower voters!"
The heating, cooling and ventilation systems will be designed to be part of the college's Energy Management Program curriculum, with high efficiency mechanical systems installed in a single area to create a living laboratory.
The 12-kilovolt solar array supported by the Greenpower grant will provide renewable energy production as well as a functional renewable energy educational opportunity for students enrolled in the Energy Management Program.
The college won a Greenpower grant in 2009 that helped fund an electric vehicle charging station at its main campus off 30th Avenue in Eugene.
Other finalists were St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lane County, the University of Oregon Solar Energy Center, Renewable Energy Development International, Full Access, and Early Childhood Cares. To read finalist applications, go to www.eweb.org/greenpower/grant/2011.
Since 2007, thousands of EWEB customers have chosen to support clean renewable energy and the environment by purchasing EWEB Greenpower. They buy $1.50 or $10 "blocks" of Greenpower, or voluntarily dedicate all of their energy use to Greenpower by paying an extra penny per kilowatt-hour of consumption.
EWEB developed the Greenpower grant program in 2007 to reinvest these funds into smaller scale renewable energy or education projects that benefit the utility's customers.
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Media contacts:
Joan Aschim, PIO, aschimj@lanecc.edu or (541) 463-5591
