Strickland Announces Ohio's Centers of Excellence in Advanced Energy at Eight Universities
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Columbus, Ohio - Governor Ted Strickland, together with Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Eric D. Fingerhut, today announced Ohio's Centers of Excellence in advanced energy at a press conference at the Ohio Board of Regents.
The nine Centers, located at eight universities throughout the state, are committed to focusing their academic and research activities on advanced energy development to strengthen Ohio as a global leader in the advanced energy economy and to meet the requirements of Senate Bill 221, signed by the governor last year.
Senate Bill 221 gives Ohio the third most aggressive advanced energy portfolio standard in the nation and mandates that 25 percent of all electricity sold in Ohio come from advanced energy sources by 2025.
"Meeting our advanced energy standard depends on making sure we continue to develop new technologies," Strickland said. "These Centers of Excellence will play a key role in meeting that goal as well as strengthening Ohio's position as a market leader in supplying the world's advanced energy economies. That is important for a simple reason when we grow these industries, we create jobs."
The Centers are located at the following universities:
• Bowling Green State University: Sustainability and the Environment
• Case Western Reserve University: Great Lakes Energy Institute
• Central State University: Emerging Technologies
• University of Cincinnati: Sustaining the Urban Environment
• University of Dayton: Von Ohain Fuels & Combustion; and Strategic Energy and Environmental Informatics
• The Ohio State University: Climate, Energy, and the Environment
• Ohio University: Energy and the Environment
• University of Toledo: Advanced Renewable Energy and the Environment
The announcement is one of several the governor is making this week as he travels the state to demonstrate Ohio's commitment to a growing advanced energy economy.
Governor Strickland, who serves as co-chair for the Appalachian Regional Commission, hosted the 13 Appalachian states for the three-day national conference in Athens this week titled New Energy. New Jobs. New Opportunities for Appalachia. The governor is also touring several advanced and renewable energy businesses and incubators.
The Centers of Excellence, as outlined in Ohio's 10-year Strategic Plan for Higher Education, will position the University System of Ohio to be a magnet for talent and a leader in innovation and entrepreneurial activity by developing distinct missions for each institution that are recognized by students, faculty and business leaders, while eliminating unnecessary competition for resources, students and faculty within the state.
"Ohio's universities are committed to driving economic growth in this state," Fingerhut said. "The Centers of Excellence in advanced energy announced today will create the technologies and innovations needed to make Ohio a global leader in an economy that requires a modern, cheap, and clean energy infrastructure."
Ohio is already ranked in the top five for clean energy job creation, energy efficiency and environmentally friendly production jobs, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts, and is first in the nation for renewable and advanced energy manufacturing.
Today's announcement is the first of five groupings of university Centers of Excellence that align with the state's targeted industries, as well as focus on talent recruitment. The first four categories are specific to Ohio's growth industries advanced energy, transportation and logistics, biomedical and healthcare, and agriculture and food production. The fifth group is focused on attracting and retaining talent to the state through additional programs that are essential in building communities and attracting creative talent.
For more information, see:
Ohio Centers of Excellence: www.uso.edu/centersofexcellence
Governor Strickland's Senate Bill 221: http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=127_SB_221
10-year Strategic Plan for Higher Education: http://uso.edu/strategicplan/
Additional information on Ohio's Centers of Excellence for advanced energy and Ohio's advanced energy economy:
Advanced Energy Centers of Excellence
The vision of the Centers of Excellence is to raise the quality of the system by developing distinct missions for each institution that are recognized by students, faculty and business leaders, while eliminating unnecessary competition for resources, students and faculty.
The nine advanced energy Centers of Excellence are located at eight universities throughout the state:
• Bowling Green State University: Sustainability and the Environment
• Case Western Reserve University: Great Lakes Energy Institute
• Central State University: Emerging Technologies
• University of Cincinnati: Sustaining the Urban Environment
• University of Dayton: Von Ohain Fuels & Combustion; and Strategic Energy and Environmental Informatics
• The Ohio State University: Climate, Energy, and the Environment
• Ohio University: Energy and the Environment
• University of Toledo: Advanced Renewable Energy and the Environment
These Centers of Excellence will help accelerate Ohio's advanced energy economy by collaborating to assist our state in meeting the aggressive targets set in the 2008 energy bill that 25 percent of all electricity sold in Ohio come from advanced energy sources by 2025, and to meet our rigorous energy efficiency targets. By doing this, the Centers assist Ohio's goal of being a leader in supplying the world's clean energy economies.
By committing to focus their academic and research activities within advanced energy, the Centers of Excellence will help develop new technologies, refresh current ones and boost Ohio's market share in supplying the world's green energy economies.
Centers of Excellence are the basic building blocks of universities as economic drivers.
Nationally recognized programs in key areas of academic study serve as the platform for world-class centers of research, which are home to intellectual talent and attract public and private investment. Research centers attract private capital that help build businesses and create jobs. These activities fuel the exciting, entrepreneurial environments that attract and retain young people.
Ohio is a historic leader in using higher education to increase the state's economic competitiveness in the nation and the world, while enriching the lives of its citizens.
The University System of Ohio, the largest comprehensive public system of higher education in the nation, is aggressively pursuing the key strategies outlined in Ohio's 10-year Strategic Plan for Higher Education. Future Centers of Excellence will focus on other growing sectors of Ohio's economy biomedical and healthcare, advanced transportation, and food and agriculture, as well as programs to attract and retain talent in Ohio.
Ohio: Leveraging its Manufacturing Heritage to Deliver Emerging Energy Technologies
The 21st Century world demands innovation in product development products customized to evolving consumer needs. Ohio's historic manufacturing know-how coupled with constant innovation in advanced materials, design and production technologies makes it the supplier of choice for cutting edge products.
And Ohio is leveraging its innovative spirit and world-class advanced manufacturing infrastructure to develop the products needed to meet the global energy needs of the future. Ohio-based companies are producing an increasing array of cleaner, greener and high tech energy solutions that the world is counting on. Ohio's advanced energy economy is leading the way.
#1 State for Renewable and Advanced Energy Manufacturing - Ohio brings in more new renewable energy facility projects than any other state. The Ohio Third Frontier has invested more than $150 million in energy technology development delivering assistance to Ohio manufacturing companies that sustain Ohio's global competitive advantages for product development, company growth and attraction, job creation and wealth creation.
• Largest manufacturing facility of thin-film solar panels in the country in Ohio
• Ohio is the #2 state in potential for manufacturing wind turbines and components
• Ohio is one of the few places where all phases of fuel cell development take place
• Leader in Clean Energy Job Creation - Ohio ranks in the Top 5 in the United States for clean energy, energy efficiency and environmentally friendly production jobs.
• 3rd Most Aggressive Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (RPS) Creating New Energy Opportunities Ohio's landmark energy bill mandates that 25 percent of all electricity sold in Ohio come from advanced energy sources by 2025. It requires at least 12.5 percent of Ohio's electricity to come from renewable sources. This will make Ohio the third largest consumer of renewable energy in the nation and established the most aggressive energy efficiency requirement in the nation.
• World-Class Higher Education System Producing "Green Collar" Workforce - Ohio has the nation's largest comprehensive public system for higher education and Ohio universities invest $2 billion annually in research and development. And Ohio's "green collar" workers are trained in dedicated university and community college programs focused on advanced energy.
• Building Green -- Ohio is committed to sustainable and responsible facility construction. The Ohio School Facilities Commission is making more than $4 billion available to partner with local districts to build new schools. But those schools must achieve at least the silver level rating in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, called LEED. Ohio has more LEED registered schools than the next three highest states combined.
• Central Location and Business-Friendly Tax Environment Ohio is within a day's drive of more than 62 percent of all U.S. manufacturing facilities and within 600 miles of nearly 60 percent of the U.S. population. The combination of Ohio's proximity to profitable markets and the Midwest's lowest taxes reduces costs and provides opportunities for advanced energy businesses to grow and prosper.
Ohio is supplying the world's essential needs producing cleaner and greener energy solutions for us all. Ohio-based manufacturers have maximized the state's manufacturing heritage to successfully shift from past inventions to tomorrow's innovations. Here are a few of the recent advanced energy innovations:
Solar Energy
First Solar in Perrysburg, Wood County (Northwest Ohio)
Perrysburg has the largest manufacturing plant of thin-film solar panels in the country. First Solar is capitalizing on Northwest Ohio's history of expert glass manufacturing and knowledgeable workforce and is expanding its Ohio manufacturing operations to build a new facility to support increased development activities associated with its advanced thin-film solar module manufacturing technology. The company manufactures solar modules with an advanced thin film semiconductor technology and provides comprehensive PV solutions that significantly reduce solar electricity costs.
Biomass Energy
R.E. Burger plant in Shadyside, Belmont County (Eastern Ohio)
Building one of the largest biomass facilities in the country, Ohio and FirstEnergy are partnering to repower units at the Burger plant to generate electricity primarily with biomass. This project, announced in early April, anticipates the plant will be capable of producing up to 312 megawatts of electricity enough to power about 190,000 homes, which makes it one of the largest biomass facilities in the country.
Wind Energy
Minster Machine in Minster, Auglaize County (Southwest Ohio)
Minster Machine is diversifying its equipment manufacturing from the auto, medical and food industries to include energy-related parts manufacturing. The company began as a blacksmith in 1896 and recently the Minster Machine Company has been forging the giant cast-iron hubs that keep the blades attached to the center of a wind turbine. With the same skills and a bend toward innovation, the company diversified and grew, while staying true to its initial promise to make high-value parts.
Many of Ohio's best known manufacturers-such as American Trim, Avon Bearings, Dovetail Solar and Wind, Lubrizol, Owens-Corning, Parker Hannifin, Sherwin Williams and Timken are now key suppliers to the nation's advanced energy industry. Their traditional manufacturing processes transition easily to supply bearings, performance coatings, advanced plastics, composites and other energy-related components that will help create the future of clean energy.
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