Cougar print., May 19, 1977, Page 3, Image 3

hibits and demonstrations draw
audience to energy fair
I
H
by Barbara Dikty
Staff Writer
Hwas a fair held at the college last
Mt it wasn't the usual sort of fair
Hon candy and ferris wheels.
■¡«air was put together by the students
Hysics department and Ken Roberts.
Bed electric cars and solar furnaces,
Hg centers and composting toilets.
He Experimental Energy Exposition,
Has held last Friday and Saturday in
Hmunity Center Building.
|ieof the dominant themes of the
■on was Solar Power. Looking around
Hiding you could see the amazing
Lit dog cooker and a solar furnace.
Bnlolar energy really work in Oregon,
H of eternal rain? Yes, say solar
Bents. There are 2000 average annual
If sunshine west of the Cascades,
■me amount of sunshine that parts of
■ New York and West Virginia get
Ithe coldest winter days in Oregon are
■bly the clear ones; solar energy in-
ps just when you need it the most,
[he newer solar heating systems have
Improved heat storage systems. One
Im patented by Solar, Inc. utilizes eu-
Isalt sodium sulfate decahydrate per-
Hy sealed in black plastic storage
■The heat stays stored in the salt
Ir than in conventional rock or water
■ systems. Just what is needed for
¡periods of winter rain.
leu on cloudy days solar collectors can
¡orb some heat radiation. During Satur-
|s rains the Champion Solar Furnace was
■imping out warm air. Not a lot, but
I,
Ivo energy saving cars were also on dis-
■One that ran on natural gas and one
has electrically powered. The natural
Ear looked like any respectable auto,
■he electric car was something else
Photos by Jenni Wheeler
This giant solar collecter was one of many energy-saving devices exhibited during last
week's Experimental Energy Exposition on the CCC campus.
air through a ventalation pipe.
Darrell Rader, local distributer of the
Toa-Throne was doubtful at first of the
above claim, so he checked it out.
"I went to this doctor's home who had
had one installed," said Rader, "since I'm
the local dealer in these I had to check
them out. Anyway, I went to his house and
I stuck my head right down into it, (the
toilet stool) and I didn't smell a thing. The
air smelled fresh as it does right here where
we're standing."
Composting toilets are allowed by Oregon
State law with a special permit. House Bill
was a tiny thing, barely five feet long,
2888 which is now before the Oregon Legis­
Ian orange fiberglass body. The door,
lature would allow anybne to own one.
»opened, bent slightly under a steady
One of the most interesting things at the
»■pressure. One shudders to think what
Energy Fair was the Energy Simulator Game.
«happen to the car's occupants if they
The object of the game was to play off the
Mo an accident.
United State's energy reserves against energy
Mere are advantages to the Citicar, as it
demands.
Bled, because it's only meant to be
The game was played at five control
p in urban areas. There is no worry
panels attached to an analog computer by
■ it running out of gas, it needs to be
wires. The computer was programmed with
& up once a week, certainly electricity
all the reserves of oil, coal, natural gas,
gaper than gasoline and it won't add to
hydroelectric power, and nuclear energy
Sty's air pollution.
available. Each control panel represented
■ere wouldn't be any expensive engine
one section of the country, for example
sirs either, because there isn't much of the Northwest, Midwest, and Southwest.
Bine to repair. The car has a top speed
Each control panel had two types of
50 mph, which is fine considering it's
knobs on it. Big energy resource knobs,
[supposed to be an urban car. One dis-
(oil, coal, etc.) and a lot of smaller energy
prting thought, though, is that com­
demand knobs, (industry, transportation,
mo a car this size even a volkswagon
agriculture, etc.)
)ks big!
On the main computer panel was a clock
M first glance, the exhibit from Home-
that ticked off the years, a series of lights
id Tools was like stepping from the
that told when and how fast reserves were
|reinto the past. An updated version of
being used up and another set of lights that
l«ne holer privy was featured which
told when the players were polluting the
Elike a toilet stool seated on top of a
environment, and when they weren't.
fistic container.
The fascinating thing about the Energy
&Toa-Throne, an aerobic decay toilet,
Simulator game was that one could see the
■Swedish invention. It uses air to com-
immediate impact of his or her choices.
® the wastes instead of flushing them
When all parts of the country were wasting
Dthe sewage lines at 5 gallons of water
fuel with no concern for the future, the
H In an average house, half the water
computer panel showed major electrical
Bis flushed down the john. The Toa-
brownouts in about 10 years, the country
&uses no water at all.
running out of natural gas in 30 years, and
■common fear for this kind of toilet is
ecological disasters and massive energy short­
Bt might stink up the house. However,
ages around the year 2000.
LIunlikely as gases are drawn off with
On the other hand, when the players
College
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20
21
8.29
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centimeters
Colors by Mutiseli Color Services Lab
carefully controlled their use of the natural
resources, disasters were usually averted fór
another 150-200 years. This breathing space
gave time to develop alternate sources of
energy for the game.
An interesting bit of information the
computer gave was that no matter how
carefully we use our natural gas, we are
going to run out of it in another 30-35
years.
Mike Aronson, physics instructor, "eyes'
a solar device on exhibit. Aronson's classes
planned the weekend exhibition months in
advance.
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