Deadline near for alternative energy grants

By CLAUDIA WOOLDRIDGE JUST outside of Armington in central Illinois, an "earth-powered" cave home stays cool in summer and can be heated during the winter with a wood-burning stove. It has attracted visitors from around the world. In Sparta, School District #146 uses a low-cost solar collector constructed of beer cans and used lithographic plates to provide supplemental heat for its vocational training building. And in Des Plaines, a commercial car wash uses solar energy to keep the water hot, which works out fine because most people wash their cars on sunny days. These are just a few examples of the kind of alternative energy projects that might be funded by the Illinois Institute of Natural Resources (INR). The money will be distributed through INR's Alternative Energy Development. Program. The $1 million available to the INR for project grants comes from funds provided by the Illinois

Commenting on the lopsided distribution of funds, program coordinator Tim Johnson said, "Considering that Illinois has traditionally been a coal state, I can see where the legislators were coming from .... Perhaps in time we may be appropriating more money [for alternative energy development]."

Johnson says that during this round of funding the INR is interested in demonstration projects that have a lot of commercial potential. We may change that approach in 1981, he said, depending on what we get back this year.

Applications

In order to encourage a wide variety of people to apply, the INR has prepared a Program Opportunity Notice (PON) which includes an application form. It explains in simple terms what kind of projects are eligible and how to apply. As of late September, Johnson said, the Alternative Energy Program had sent out 600 PONs and expected to get some 300 to 500 proposals in return.

Any business, university, industrial or governmental organization residing or doing business in Illinois is eligible for a grant from the Alternative Energy Program. A business, for example, could apply for money to fund a demonstration project creating a market for its alternative energy technology. A community project to construct a demonstration solar greenhouse using local labor would also be eligible. Private individuals can also apply for funds if they are willing to collect data and demonstrate their projects to others in the community.

More than solar

There are other alternative energy sources besides solar that the INR is interested in: for example, wind-generated power; bioconversion, which is the conversion of organic or plant material to energy sources such as the alcohol used in gasohol; geothermal which takes advantage of naturally occurring heat sources in the earth like hot springs; hydroelectric power sources such as small dams and waterfalls; the burning of solid wastes; and the use of integrated energy systems which combine different technologies to produce and/ or conserve energy.

If you have a project and want to apply, a Program Opportunity Notice can be obtained by writing the Energy Bond Fund Manager, Institute of Natural Resources 325 West Adams, Springfield, Illinois 62706. The deadline for applications is November 15, 1979.

There is no set limit on the size of t|he grants, Johnson said, but applicants must be prepared to share the cost of the project; that is, they cannot get full funding from the state. Some applicants, depending upon their resources, will be encouraged to form partnerships and copartnerships in order to raise money. Awards will be announced n early spring of 1980, and the INR hopes to spend the entire $1 million.

All applications will be reviewed by the staff of the INR according to the program objectives which include: the reduction of Illinois' dependency upon nonrenewable fuel sources, the promotion of partnerships between public and private entities for developing self-supporting alternative energy industries as a part of the Illinois. business and economic community, and the support of an environmentally sound and socially acceptable alternative energy technology which present a net energy savings,)

Detailed review

Each proposal receiving a positive preliminary review will then be subject to a more detailed substantive review. The ultimate decision on who gets the grants will be made by the Illinois Energy Resources Commission (the legislative commission which oversees expenditure of the coal and| energy bond funds). It will select the winning projects from recommendations submitted by the INR.

Gary Mielke, a technical analyst in the INR solar energy program, has compiled a rough estimate of the number of solar energy systems in Illinois by interviewing solar firms and updating the INR's solar energy directory. He finds at least 800 solar energy projects already in use in Illinois. Approximately 300 of these are installed in homes, and 250 are used in agricultural buildings such as grain dryers, livestock buildings and machine sheds. And there are about 50 solar heated swimming pools and 140 domestic hot water systems. Illinois institutions and community organizations that employ solar energy include a church in Peoria, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, the Evanston Environmental Association (which completed its solar heating system two years ago and has now received a grant to install a wind-powered turbine that will generate two kilowatts of electricty), and the new federal building in Carbondale.

16/ November 1979/ Illinois Issues

Businesses using solar energy include the drive-in facility at the First National Bank and Trust Company in Rockford. The bank, a spokesperson said, is very energy conscious and encourages people with energy conservation plans whether they involve solar technology or just the use of good insulation.

Plants are another renewable source of energy. There is, of course, the old-fashioned wood-burning stove that is coming into vogue again, often as a supplement to simple solar heating systems such as greenhouses. But corn, wood chips, sweet sorghum, even potatoes can be used to produce ethanol which, in turn, can be used to extend gasoline supplies by making gasohol — a blend of 90 percent unleaded gasoline and 10 percent ethanol. Illinois is a leader in the gasohol movement. The Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) in Decatur is the nation's largest producer of ethanol. The ADM plant uses corn, which may ultimately be supplanted by wood or other crops as the best source of ethanol.

Ethanol, however, can also be produced on a farm by farm basis, using corn stover (corn stalks and waste) rather than the corn itself. Richard Archer, coordinator of the Department of Design at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (who also designed the Sparta solar collector), has received a grant from the INR to produce ethanol on farms of under 300 acres. Right now Archer says, he's thinking in terms of 16 gallons of ethanol to a ton of corn stover, but he hopes to improve the figure. Key to the design is keeping the technology simple and transportation costs low.

Snowball effect

INR staff members hope the grant program will increase interest in alternative energy use and provide a start in state-funded projects. They also see a slow but steady growth in the development of the new energy technologies. Describing the growth of the solar industry, Mielke says there has been "a slow snowball effect." A lot of people in the industry were expecting an explosion, he said, "but that hasn't happened. It's a more gradual thing than an explosion."

Meanwhile, with the prices of depletable fuels getting higher and higher and the environmental costs of coal and nuclear not even totaled up yet, the growth of the alternative energy industry seems inevitable. But people are already hurting frorn the energy crunch. And for those on low incomes the situation is desperate. INR's grant program is a good way to get the news out around the state about what is feasible right now in alternative energy use.

November 1979/ Illinois Issues/ 17