In an age where fossil fuel is becoming scarce, it is important to prepare our future with other natural energy sources, such as wind-generated electricity. Thanks to both our Electrical and Energy Conservation departments, our company installed the very first electrical car charger in Wooster located at Local Roots Market and Café. This project has been enabled thanks to Ohio’s American Electric Power Green Energy Program, in order to reach energy independence while being respectful of our environment.
Wooster Weekly News published the following article on June 28, 2014 written by Karen Skubik:
Electric car owners can plug in and go in downtown Wooster
Downtown Wooster just got two historic reserved parking spots.
All you need to use one is have an electric vehicle, preferably one that could use a charge.
Thanks to the Wayne County Sustainable Energy Network, the first public electric vehicle charging station in Wayne County has been installed at Local Roots Market and Café. The level 2 fast charger will be available 24 hours a day and fills a void in the region.
“One hour of charge will provide about 2.5 kilowatt hours of electricity,” said WCSEN vice president Barry Romich, “and allow an electric vehicle to drive an additional 10 miles.” Electric vehicles in the area include both Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles and Battery-Only Electric Vehicles, the latter depending on a charge from a plug-in outlet as the sole source of power.
Ohio’s American Electric Power Green Energy Program provides wind-generated electricity and supports the installation of charging stations in order to help the country achieve energy independence, cleaner air and a revitalized auto industry. The company speculates that there could be a million PHEVs on the road by 2015.
“The reason WCSEN installed the chargers is that the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions for an electric car charged with wind-sourced electricity are approximately (four grams of carbon dioxide) per mile, while an electric car charged with Ohio’s grid electricity, which is mostly from coal, is approximately (250 grams of carbon dioxide) per mile,” said WCSEN President Fred Michel, an associate professor of biosystems engineering at the Ohio State University. “A conventional gasoline vehicle emits 450 (grams of carbon dioxide) per mile or more than 100 times more (carbon dioxide) per mile than a wind electricity-charged electric vehicle.”
The charger, located on the east side of the Local Roots Market and Cafe building, is a wind energy-supplied station, so in addition to selling produce, the business will now sell wind energy. The price to charge will be initially set at $1/hour or by donation.
Betsy Anderson, one Local Roots founding members, said it has partnered with the WCSEN right from the beginning. “Although we focus on local agriculture, promoting sustainable living is part of our greater vision,” she said. “This is one of the projects we have been talking about for over four years and are thrilled to see it realized. Electric car charging stations have been available to the public in large cities and now we are proud to provide this service in Wooster.”
When WCSEN treasurer Lyn Emerson pulled her Chevrolet Volt up to one of the spots to receive the first charge, she found two McClintock Electric employees completing the installation. “(They) were as proud as peacocks to have installed the first public plug-in charger in Wooster,” she said. “They felt as though they were part of history in the making to have done this job.”