Students need not look far for information — and even a
little entertainment — on the subject of fossil fuels and
alternative energy sources.

The University’s ninth annual Energy Fest brought together
more than a dozen organizations to the Diag yesterdays to speak on
subjects ranging from alternative fuel sources to recycling habits,
in an effort to raise awareness about energy conservation.

Armed with a solar powered radio, SNRE prof. Gregory Keoleian
said alternative energies, many of which are currently available,
are more efficient than fossil fuels.

“If you put one unit of fossil fuel into a power plant
… you only get 0.3 units of electricity,” he said.
“That means they are only about 30 percent
efficient.”

Keoleian co-directs the University’s Center for
Sustainable Systems, which studies the long-term efficiency of
energy-producing devices.

Keoleian went on to say that if that same unit of fossil fuel
went into making the solar energy collector he was holding, energy
efficiency could be increased by 500 percent, or 3,000 percent if
the fuel went into constructing a wind powered generator. He also
spoke about biomass energy, which is produced by burning
energy-yielding plants and wood.

The day was not without its festivities. Cloud Nine Music, a
local band, performed on the steps of the Hatcher Graduate Library
in the afternoon.

A group of students from the Ann Arbor Open School, a local K-8
institution, were also in attendance as a teacher Aina Bernier
encouraged them to learn about alternate energy sources through a
scavenger hunt of the various booths.

Some kids could even be heard surveying college students,
testing their knowledge of energy sources, asking, “Do you
know what a fossil fuel is? And what is your major?”

“We want to reach out to the community and we feel
we’ve done that.” Yoshiko Hill, manager of electrical
engineering for the Utilities & Plant Engineering Department
within University Plant Operations, said she was pleased at the
number of people that were stopping to talk.

“The first time we did this it was indoors in the
(Michigan) Union in the dead of winter,” she said. “We
decided it would be better out here in September.”

Other groups in attendance to promote alternative energies
included the University’s Solar Car Team, which is preparing
for a cross-country race in July, and the Michigan Solar House
Project, which will break ground in 2005 on a house that will
generate its own electricity and treat all its sewage.

Both teams focus on showing that solar energy can replace fossil
fuels in devices we use everyday.

The Energy Fest will conclude tomorrow with another gathering on
North Campus’s Portico Plaza from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Groups participatincg in the event from the city included the
Ann Arbor Transportation Authority, the city’s Energy Office
and DTE Energy.