Equipment is being assembled and shipped to help Crowder College instructors train others.
Earlier this month, program director Dan Eberle and solar instructor Joel Lamson attended training through a Department of Energy grant managed by Houston Community College. Crowder has been involved in solar training for years, Eberle said, but the Houston trip qualified them as trainers for solar installers compliant with the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) standards.
“We’re going to help train the trainers in Missouri,” Eberle said.
Crowder has been designated as the ONtility site for Missouri and will school more trainers at community colleges and vocational technical schools around the state. The grant provides training hardware and materials as well as compensation for the instructor.
They will soon receive a foldable two-kilowatt set of solar panels.
“As part of the training students are supposed to install a one-kilowatt,” Eberle said. “It’s about the size of two pickup beds.”
The trainer students will install the panels and all the equipment needed to take the energy from the sun and put it into the electrical grid.
“We’ve been doing this sort of training for years and years and years,” Eberle said.
Now they are certified to train others to NABCEP standards. During the next five years they will identify up to 20 other Missouri trainers.
While the monetary value of Crowder’s share of the grant may be close to $40,000, but the real value of the program is higher.
“It makes Crowder the center for solar training for Missouri,” Eberle said.
In cooperation with the University of Missouri and four other community colleges Crowder is also developing a geothermal curriculum.
Local interest
Making a dent in energy usage is possible at home. While wind energy may be difficult to use on a small scale using solar thermal energy to heat a water tank, Eberle said, is achievable.
“Almost everybody in Missouri could use solar thermal in terms of heating water and almost everybody uses hot water every day,” he said. “That’s something that has a real effect on the bottom line of how much energy they use every month.
“It isn’t something that only people with a lot of money or something ‘sciency' that only techno geeks will deal with. “
Upcoming classes
As the spring weather warms Crowder plans several community classes as introductions to several alternative energy topics including using solar thermal energy for hot water, using solar energy for electricity, energy conservation/weatherization and biofuels focusing on ethanol and biodiesel.
