Library to construct solar carport

MUNCIE – The Youth Opportunity Center applied for a solar energy grant after seeing a forecast for electricity rates.

A State Utility Forecasting Group analysis predicted a 32 percent increase in electricity rates for Indiana by 2023 thanks in part to proposed new air-pollution control standards for coal-fired power plants.

“We have very high energy costs across 18 buildings,” says Jeff Helm, director of IT and facilities at the YOC, a campus for troubled children. “Every dollar not spent on utility bills we can put into direct program services for our kids.”

The YOC is one of four locations in Muncie that will construct new solar energy projects funded in part by $88,250 in grants awarded by the Indiana Association for Community Economic Development (IACED).

The other recipients are Muncie Public Library, ecoREHAB and Unitarian Universalist Church.

The YOC’s $24,000 grant will cover half of the projected cost of a solar energy project for the central services facility housing the administration, kitchen, gymnasium, classrooms and other offices.

The YOC already has completed energy-conservation projects including relamping the gym, maintenance building and some of the detention center; motion-sensing light switches; tankless water heaters; and computerized HVAC monitoring.

The non-profit ecoREHAB, which works with the city and Ball State University, won a grant to cover half the cost of a solar energy project on the roof at its office in a rehabilitated house at 522 S. Gharkey St.

“There’s an effort to make renewable energy more mainstream,” says ecoREHAB director Craig Graybeal. “I suppose it’s maybe an abstract concept for some people. They’ve never seen it in practice or on a building or in use, what it costs, what it can do to their utility bills.”

The project will help the organization become more familiar with the technology and to better advocate its use.

Another grant will pay $30,000 of the estimated $88,000 cost of a carport with solar panels for the roof in the Kennedy Library parking lot. About 10 cars will be shaded under the carport. The project will cut the library’s energy use by an estimated 25 percent, says Ginny Nilles, library director.

“We could have put this on the roof but a carport will be much more visible and people will be able to see the panels,” she said. “It’s an opportunity to help educate the public about alternative energy resources. We are going to partner with a couple of the other grant recipients and hope to offer a variety of education and interactive programs.”

Funding for the grants was the result of a legal settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, eight states, 13 citizen groups and American Electric Power (AEP), the parent company of Indiana Michigan Power.

The settlement included an agreement by AEP to invest $2.5 million to improve air quality in Indiana through various projects.

Contact Seth Slabaugh at (765) 213-5834.