Northwest Missouri State University - Tower Yearbook (Maryville, MO)

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Powered bypeHets Cost-saving initiative also has environmental benefits. Around ihe bend of Ninth Street by Campus challenges. We had a group of people with deter- Sofety mounds of material slowly piled up spilling mination and enthusiasm to see if something could from a huge semi-truck. be developed. Although piquing the interest of the casual Using internal funds, the University constructed passerby, most students didn ' t know the heaps of a $700,000 addition to its existing processing fo- sometimes odorous material were responsible for cility to expedite the pellet-producing process. The the steam wafting from their heaters. Biomass Processing Center will be repaid over nine People see trucks carrying stuff that has a cer- years by savings incurred as result of the program, tain amount of odor but not everyone understands Northwest obtained a U.S. patent for its waste- I what exactly we do in our Alter- native Energy Project, Provost Kichoon Yang said. After two weeks of sub-zero temperatures in the winter of 1977-78 coupled with a natural gas cut-off from the utility com- pany, the Universi- ty decided strides needed to be taken to decrease petroleum-based energy source de- pendence. The University first used wood to-energy production process that involves separating animal waste into liquid and solid components. The solids were mixed with dry agricultural feedstocks and the mixture is then transported to the processing plant for pelletization into fuel source. University officials awaited word if increased state funding will allow Northwest to imple- ment an alternative-energy-in- spired curriculum. Administrators hoped to offer a bachelor of sci- ence degree in nanotechnology, a master ' s degree in biotechnol- ogy and o bachelor of science degree and master ' s degree in alternative energy. Mike Bellamy, associate pro- fessor of chemistry and physics. As the wind spins the propellers of the wind mill at the Uni- versity Farm, energy is produced as a part of the alternate energy project Waste from the livestock is also pelletized and burned helped generate the proposed thesamevrayasthecampus ' recyclables.p iotobf Trevor Hoi.es curriculum Ond believes the new chips OS a renew able, clean-burning alternate energy source, de- major would help produce experts in converting creasing the use of oil and natural gas from 100 biomass into a valuable energy source, thus in- percent to 35 percent. From August 1982 to July creasing students employobility the high-demand 2000, the project saved 500,000 gallons of oil field, and $4 million, according to Ray Courter, vice Graduates would be able to go into businesses president for Finance and Support Services. Pelletized paper and animal waste-3,000 tons of paper pellets and four tons of animal waste-also contributed to energy savings. The millions saved helped fund 41 electronic classrooms on campus from 1994 to 2000 . Court- and conduct feasibility studies on what energy op- tions ore viable. They will be able to see the big picture, Bel- lamy said. They will know a businesses options and how the most money can be saved. University administrators also hoped to use the er also said 60 percent of the saved funds was program as a recruiting tool. Being one of the only allocated into other academic budgets to improve universities in the area to provide such a program, instruction and provide scholarships. they hoped the program would attract students na- This is not a simple thing to do, Courter said, tionwide. It ' s easier to burn natural gas, but it ' s worth the Writer | Stephanie StangI Designer | Paula Eldred Another load goes into the grinder at the Pellet Plant as J Scott raises his scoop. Workers sorted through recyclabi f make sure metal or other foreign objects that could possibt) J the grinder would be dumped, photo by Trevor Hoyes

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020 021 Transporting textbooks back to th«r shefving locations at Textbook Services, Allie Boehm struggles to contain the heavy load. Textbook Services was open during finals week with extended hours to accompany students schedules before they returned home, photo by Meredilh Currence

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Early afternoon sunlight cascades onto the floor of the Pctlct Plant and silhouettes James Scott as he n ixcs rccy- clablcs. The plant received paper and cardboard from the University and area factories. f)hotobY Tirvo ' Hayr-. 022 023 ( ishfy made pellets ride a conveyor bett to be accumulated ' » pMle. Once the storage area inside the plant reached capacity h pellets, a truck hauled them to the Power House for burning. n bf Trevor Hoyes New, piping hot pellets lay in James Scott s hand. The pellets, which were pieces of cardboard and paper few minutes earlier, were shredded and compressed into burnable cylinders which came out of the machines hot to the touch, photo by Trevor Haye A draft fans the flames burning wood chips at the Powerhouse. The University burned wood chips while building up the pellet sup- ply and only relied on naturaJ gas when power needs exceeded the capadty of the pellets and wood chips, pfioto b Trevor Hayes