Photo Courtesy of Meyers Motors
The NmG (No More Gas) is a low cost, all-electric, personal vehicle. This single passenger vehicle has two front wheels and a single wheel in the rear and uses about $0.55 to fully re-charge. (http://www.myersmotors.com/index.html) Other Ways Kent State is Staying Green
By Anna Riggenbach, Kent State magazine journalism student
• Kent State is going green is by using environmentally friendly cleaning products. John Walsh, manager of Campus Environment and Operations, made the environmentally friendly decision to change the Kent Campus’ cleaning products.
“It was a no-brainer,” Walsh says. “They work. They’re safe. So I felt a responsibility to go in that direction with the approval of my bosses.”
Walsh researched products for three years before making the decision to go green. He said some benefits to using green products include providing a better working and learning environment; and, they are safe, people friendly and environmentally friendly.
• Donald Coates, assistant professor in the College of Technology, is working with students on the Kent Campus, in conjunction with Myers Motors, located in Tallmadge, Ohio, on an electric car. Myers Motors was established in 2004, and Coates has been working with the company for about two years.
“This car establishes a trend that people may go to commuter cars that are electric,” Coates said. “It’s a trend that hasn’t really taken hold yet.”
Coates is also working on fuel cell activities with Kent State’s Department of Chemistry.
“We are doing basic research to help commercialize fuel cells to make them more cost effective,” Coates said. “It’s going to be a balance between finding alternative sources and using energy responsibly.”
• John Hoornbeek, director of the Center for Public Administration and Public Policy, has worked in the environmental field for much of his career. Currently he is looking at water quality management processes nationally and in Ohio.
“Maintaining the quality of our water resources is important for our future,” he said. “The work we are doing is designed to help ensure that our water quality management processes are effective.”
Hoornbeek is accomplishing this by working with colleagues on a study for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on ways in which federal water quality programs are implemented in Ohio and West Virginia. He and Holly Burnett-Hanley of Youngstown State University are also looking at water resources in Northeast Ohio and ways in which regional water quality management processes might be improved.
• Simon Mwongela, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry, is researching green chemistry in the form of ionic liquids and bio-diesel. He says his goal is to design or move toward technologies that would be more environmentally friendly.
“Ionic liquids have attracted a lot of attention from scientists around the world because of their unique and environmentally friendly properties, and their wide applications in chemical process,” Mwongela said. “My research is intended to use ionic liquids for chemical separations.”
Mwongela is investigating some of the synthesized ionic liquids that might be useful as “modifiers” in place of organic solvents (which are considered environmental pollutants) for chemical separations. He is also researching methods to determine the quality and efficiency of bio-diesel fuels, thus promoting the transition from petroleum-based fuels which are major contributors of environmental pollution.
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