Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 13, 1976)
Weaver supports UO solar energy project By RICK BELLA Of the Emerald The University solar energy re search project received a boost Monday when U.S. Congressman Jim Weaver, D-Eugene, pledged support in the effort to obtain fed eral funds. Weaver was guided through a one-hour tour of the research facilities on the roof of Science I by Doug Lowndes, associate profes sor of physics, Dan Kaehn, physics research associate, and University glassblower Gerrit De Wilde. The project, designed to study the feasibility of solar energy collector-reflectors, has funding / through “the middle of this year," according to Lowndes. It is now operating on grants from Portland General Electric, Pacific Power and Light and the Graduate Studies Center. When these sources are exhausted, the pro ject directors will have to seek al ternate means of funding. "I’m going to convert my own house to solar energy," Weaver said, "And I will support any effort to obtain funds." Weaver was re ferring to the possible availability of money through research grants from the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA), one of the groups that replaced the now-defunct Atomic Energy Commission. Weaver is a member of the Jim Weaver House Energy Conservation Sub committee and hopes to use his influence to sway opinion on the ERDA grant proposal board. The project directors have submitted grant proposals to ERDA and are still waiting for evaluation. "We hope to hear of the results in the next couple of months," said Lowndes. “We wrote the project proposals with a strongly regional emphasis in our measurement of solar radiation and the pos sibilities of solar energy." Lown des and Kaehn both stressed that if solar energy could work in the Pacific Northwest, it could proba bly work anywhere in the country. The project is currently studying the use of reflectors in conjunction with the collectors already mar keted by solar energy pioneers. The reflectors would gather and direct the sunlight into the collec tors where the energy would be used to heat circulating water. The heated water could then be used for radiator heat or for driving tur bines to generate electricity. Re flectors, Lowndes says, make par ticular sense in the Northwest, where there is relatively little sun light, because they can help utilize all available sunlight. One new technique of reflection is the use of aluminum coatings in the collectors. This idea, used by DeWilde in the current project modifies Coos Bay inventor Henry Mathew s use of aluminum foil as a reflector. -- Vol. 77, No. 75 Eugene, Oregon 97403 Tuesday, January 13,1976 Demands rest on Mac Court ownership Editor's note: The following is the first in a two-part series on the historical ownership and control of McArthur Court. Tomorrow's article will deal with the ASUO's Aid session slated today The introduction of new finan cial aid forms has prompted the Office of Student Financial Aid to conduct application workshops Wednesday and Thursday. Any student applying for aid for summer term and next year will have to follow new procedures and fill out forms different from any which the University has used be fore. The Financial Aid Office hopes to avoid confusion at the end of February by holding the two mass workshops. The workshops will last for three hours, with an hour-long presenta tion of the new procedures, fol lowed by a two-hour question answer session. The Wednesday workshop will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. and the Thursday session will be in the morning from 8 to 11. Both are scheduled in the EMU, room to be posted Any students wishing informa tion on the new procedures who miss the workshops can pick up hand-outs and receive less exten sive advice in the financial aids office, 270 Oregon Hall. . According to Janice Holland, fi nancial aids assistant, students who are not informed about the new procedures for applying for financial aids will be severely handicapped. "The forms are different enough that if people don't know about them, they'll be pretty unhappy in June,” she said. The priority deadline for appli cations for both summer term and the 1976-77 academic year is March 1. No applications for scho larships will be considered after that date. specific plans for regaining con trol of the facility and the administration's response to those plans. By LOIS LINDSAY Of the Emerald Student leaders are ready to do battle to regain control of McAr thur Court, a building they say they built themselves. Opposing current University rule over usage of the nearly $800,000 facility, ASUO officials say that power rightfully belongs to the students. A proposal assert ing that hght will go before the General Faculty for approval to morrow. After all, we built the building," says Dave Donley of the Inciden tal Fee Committee (IFC). We should at least have some say as to how it is used. As it stands now, they (the administrators) are de termining both the scheduling and usage of the facility without any student input. That's not an equitable system by any terms.” Donley bases his claim on re search he conducted for the ASUO over a six-month period from November, 1974, to June, 1975. Delving into piles of official documents, Donley compiled an extensive report outlining histori cal ownership and management of the athletic facility. According to Donley s re search, the history of Mac Court goes back to August, 1925. when ( Continued on Page 11) The next event in Mac Court may be a hard-fought contest for control of the facility. Photo by Greg Clark
