Ecology center trims costs

• By MARSHA SILLS
• Advocate Acadiana bureau
• Published: Mar 14, 2009 - Page: 1BA

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LAFAYETTE — With universities preparing to tighten their budgets and to make cuts where they can, one research center at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette is moving toward self-sustainability.

In recent months, the ULL Center of Ecology and Environmental Technology has begun generating solar energy and collecting rain water to operate its pair of half-acre greenhouses that store faculty research.

And soon, the center will begin making its own diesel fuel from recycled vegetable oil from the ULL cafeteria.

“The energy cost of running this facility is a couple of thousand dollars a month,” said Susan Mopper, a professor of biology and the center’s director. “We can take some of the economic burden off the state by using renewable resources.”

The benefits aren’t solely financial.

The initiatives could place the center in the lead in incorporating alternative fuels and resources, Mopper noted.

The center’s 51 acres and two greenhouses support research for faculty members in geology, math, biology, renewable resources, engineering and architecture.

The center also is a resource for federal agencies, such as the U.S. Geological Survey National Wetlands Research Center, and state agencies. The Louisiana Native Plant Initiative is housed at the center.

The focus on renewable resources and alternative energy for now is to support the center’s operations, but will likely become the focus of student and faculty research, Mopper said.

Much like the university’s farm in Cade is a model for sustainable agriculture, the center could become the university’s model for alternative energy.

Future projects that may be housed at the center include the engineering department’s endeavor to experiment with different plant species to generate bio-fuels.

For now, the center and a small solar power system atop the ULL engineering building are the only solar energy systems on campus.

The second system is part of research for the  School of Architecture and Design’s BeauSoleil home. The solar-powered home project was selected as one of 20 competitors for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon competition to be held in October in Washington, D.C.