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Perched on Porter Road, in the shadow of the ultramodern Beaver Stadium, sits Penn State's Renewable Energy Homestead, a project of the University's Center for Sustainability.
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The brainchild of philosophy professor Barbara Anderson, the 8.5 acre Center for Sustainability (CFS) was founded in 1995 with a mission to "serve as a showcase for ecological technologies and sustainable living concepts."
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Penn State graduate David Lettero is co-director of CFS, as well as the site manager and resident of the Renewable Energy Homestead. Lettero began living at the Homestead in 2003, before the funding had come through. In the beginning, there were few conveniences of home. "For awhile, I was living here without a bathroom, cooking my dinner over a fire," he says with a disbelieving grin.
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The goal of total self-sufficiency necessitates maintaining a large garden, as well as drying and storing food for the winter months. Lettero's garden (seen here in June, 2005) is off to a good start with crops of peas, strawberries, and lettuce, among many others.
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Lettero lives in a modified yurt, a small circular dwelling traditional to Mongolian nomadic culture. Built for Penn State by master yurt builder and Maine homesteader Bill Coperthwaite, the Center for Sustainability’s yurt is insulated with polyicynene foam to decrease heat loss. Though the angled wooden walls have no windows, a skylight in the roof cone lets in light.
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Today the rustic Homestead boasts a working kitchen, sink and bathroom—all of which are powered solely by the windmills and solar panels that dot the landscape. "The project speaks for itself," says Lettero. "My home here is powered by renewable energy on a daily basis."
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Self-sufficient doesn't mean unplugged. Lettero's laptop computer, DVD player, and stereo are powered by an on-site generator which stores power from the Center's solar panels.
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Living "off the grid" is achieved by harnessing the energy of the sun and wind. The Homestead's own solar panels, called the PowerLion, were designed and constructed by the College of Engineering, the Architectural Engineering Department, the West Penn Sustainable Energy Fund and the Central Pennsylvania Institute of Science and Technology. Its thirty 53-watt solar panels and 12 photovoltaic gel batteries provide the energy Lettero needs to survive on the Homestead, supplemented by input from a wind generator.
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The PowerLion is mounted atop an eighteen foot long steel trailer. The 24 volt battery bank is charged mainly by solar energy. Sensors can detect dangerously low batteries and automatically turn on a back-up diesel generator to recharge the battery.
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