ROCKFORD — Air pollution causes at least 6.5 million premature deaths a year worldwide, and according to the World Health Organization, about one-third of those deaths occur in China.

A group of 29 college engineering students and two teachers from China's Zhejiang University of Technology traveled halfway around the globe in search of fresh air. Today, their journey brought them to the grounds of the Rock River Water Reclamation District.

There they were greeted by Freedom Field Renewable Energy Executive Director Chet Kolodziej.

"The smell here?" Kolodziej said. "This is a water treatment plant. We get about 30 to 40 million gallons of water a day that either comes from the toilets or factories where they use the water for coolant. What happens is, it comes in here and we have bacteria that breaks the raw material down, and we capture the gas. See those domes? Those are full of bio gas. We have three mega watts of engines that use the bio gas to make electricity.

"The water? After it is processed here you can actually drink it. But we put it into the river. What is left is sludge. We put that on farm fields, which I think is fairly common in China."

Freedom Field is a showcase of various forms of renewable energy located on the reclamation district's campus at 3333 Kishwaukee. The China contingent toured as part of Northern Illinois University's STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) Professional Development outreach program.

China accounts for half the world’s consumption of coal and is the world’s largest emitter of climate-warming greenhouse gases, according to the World Health Organization. NIU Mechanical Engineering Professor Dr. Jenn-Terng Gau translated and spoke on behalf of the two Zhejiang University teachers. He cited health reasons and the high cost of traditional forms of energy such as fossil fuel and oil as the driving force for utilizing clean renewable energy such as wind, solar and water.

"We want to enlarge their scope of thinking," Gau said.

Inside the Freedom Field classroom Kolodziej stood next to a solar-powered go-cart and said, "Everything in here, one way or another, a student was involved in, be it as a capstone project or as part of an internship."

Since its inception, Freedom Field has been a yearly recipient of host fee dollars doled out each year by the Winnebago County Board. The host fee — or tipping fee — comes from waste haulers who are charged for garbage dumped in the Winnebago Landfill at 8403 Lindenwood Road. Each year, the County Board earmarks anticipated host fee revenue for economic development projects.

In fiscal year 2017, the host fee fund was over committed by $1.2 million more than it was projected to take in. Some host fee recipients like Freedom Field will receive less or no funding at all next year.

Earlier this year, County Board Chairman Frank Haney told board members there was no correlation between money given to Freedom Field and the creation of local jobs, specifically green jobs.

"So far, Freedom Field is nothing more than a long-term science project without any traceable research and development outcomes to invest back into local industry."

In light of the $1.2 million host fee shortfall, coupled with questions by the new Winnebago County administration about Freedom Field's local and regional economic development impact, the County Board voted to take back $54,000 of the original $88,000 allocation for fiscal year 2017. No funding to Freedom Field is slated for next year.

Former County Board Chairman Scott Christiansen, a charter member of Freedom Field's board of directors, said in March he was not surprised by the slash in funding given the county's budget constraints. He also said the goal of the Freedom Field Board "has always been to get away from public funding."

Chris Green: 815-987-1241; cgreen@rrstar.com; @chrisfgreen