FAIRBORN — Twenty First Century Energy in Fairborn hosted a preview of plans for a 30-acre “green” conference center Friday. Craig Rambo provided a three-dimensional video overview of the proposed development visitors what the site will look like. Rambo is chairman of the board at McGill Smith Punshon Inc. in Cincinnati, the architectural developer of the project.
Construction would take place on land just east of I-675 and SR235 near the old Torch residence, in an area known as Reed Hill. The development will include a state-of-the-art hotel and conference center powered by alternative energy sources.
Animated computer-generated renderings offered attendees a look at massive rooftop wind turbines and solar panels atop the hotel and conference center. It also featured a look at the redevelopment of the old Torch home into a unique dining facility and rain gardens which will process runoff water into geothermal energy.
The conference center project would include the latest wind turbine designs along with solar power and geothermal technologies to maximize internal alternative energy resources. “Most of the energy used by a site like this is during the peak hours of the day,” said Rambo. “Alternative energy technologies will help reduce the energy use during those peak times and cut the costs and that will greatly increase the return on the investment.”
Twenty First Century Energy will have an important role in the development and application of those technologies which would make the facility more self-sufficient and financially feasible. Don Knoth is the CEO of Twenty First Century Energy. He started the company in 2003 to develop high-efficiency, low wind speed turbine systems.
Knoth’s systems are based on the Vertical Action Wind Turbine (VAWT), an alternative to the traditional horizontal axis turbines, which operates more efficiently at lower wind speed, such as that prevalent in Ohio and more than half of the rest of the United States. The conference center structure would include this type of turbine in the design of the facility.
In addition to the conference center development, Twenty First Century Energy also gave visitors a look at their own solar energy system, which will be featured next week as one site in 91 Ohio communities participating in the “Solar Tour,” October 3 and 4. In 2008, with the assistance of government funding, 190 solar panels were installed on the roof of Twenty First Century Energy producing approximately 41kilowatt hours of electricity for the facility.
“On the public solar tour, we’ll be taking visitors upstairs to see our solar array,” said Karen Diehl, director of integration at Twenty First Century Energy. “We wanted to invite hundreds of people, but we felt that the best opportunity was have this pre-Solar Tour so that they could share with others the information about the public tours.”
Organized by the non-profit Green Energy Ohio each site will open for free public tours and showcase alternative energy technologies including solar, wind, biomass and energy efficiency currently operating in homes, businesses, farms, public buildings and utilities.
To learn more about other sites on the Solar Tour, go online to www.greenenergyohio.org. For more information on Twenty First Century Energy, visit www.tfcenergy.com or contact Karen Diehl, director of integration, by email at sales@tfcenergy.com.
