The reputation of being recognized as a haven for liberal thinking and the environmentally minded has shifted from UNC-Chapel Hill to N.C. State. The University is showing efforts to improve the state’s environment through education, extension and the application of innovative and cutting-edge science and technology.

The North Carolina Solar Center, located on campus and operating under the University’s Department of Engineering and Industrial Extension Service, is a key instrument in the effort to improve the environment and strengthen the economy in this state through the promotion and integration of renewable energy sources.

The Solar Center conducts and directs various programs and initiatives aimed at educating, increasing awareness of and providing funding for sustainable practices and the application of environmentally beneficial technologies and energy sources.

The Solar Center is set to receive $2 million from the North Carolina Department of Transportation to promote air quality and renewable and clean energy sources through a three-year Clean Fuel Advanced Technology program.

Professionals at the Solar Center will “develop and oversee the program,” Anne Tazewell, alternative fuels program manager at the Solar Center, said.

The Solar Center will disperse the money amongst eligible counties for transportation-related projects that will promote energy efficiency, fuel diversity and emissions reduction.

According to Tazewell, emissions education and outreach programs will utilize workshops, print materials and seminars to provide information on the benefits of and incentives to the use of alternative fuels.

Ethanol and biodiesel are the main alternative focus fuels at the Solar Center. These alternative fuels are beneficial in numerous ways. Both biodiesel and ethanol are naturally oxygenated fuels that are produced from organic materials and result in lower emissions.

Traditional petroleum-based fuel sources “create a variety of pollutants,” Viney Aneja, air quality expert and professor in the Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences said.

The supply of ethanol and biodiesel are not finite like petroleum-based fuels and are “much cleaner burning fuels,” Aneja said. The result will be a “tremendous impact on air quality,” she added.

Both fuels are also nontoxic, water soluble, biodegradable and renewable. When produced from crop, animal or forestry waste materials, they result in reduced waste materials at landfills.

According to Tazewell, not only is increased use of these fuels important to national security through reduced dependence on foreign energy sources, they also provide an economical viable alternative to North Carolina farmers.

“North Carolina is considered a leader in the use of biodiesel,” Tazewell said.

The state has achieved this status despite the fact North Carolina imports the majority of its biodiesel from out of state, according to Tazewell.

North Carolina has the ability to meet its own biodiesel needs, according to Tazewell. The production of biodiesel, made from soybeans, represents an area of potential growth for North Carolina farmers, she said.

NCSU’s combination of strong engineering, agricultural and environmental science curricula puts this University “in a favorable position to take the lead on this issue,” Aneja said.

The national conference on agricultural air quality being held this summer in Washington, D.C. is being organized and led by professors from NCSU.

The conference “will debate all air quality components of agriculture,” Aneja said.

The Solar Center recently received a $19,000 grant from the North Carolina Soy Producers Association to direct a biodiesel billboard program.

The goal of the program is to “raise awareness about the availability and benefits of biodiesel,” Tazewell said.

The Solar Center has been a driving force behind alternative fuel integration in North Carolina.

In recent years, the center has conducted various programs and initiatives around the state that have increased the use of alternative fuels that burn cleaner than petroleum-based fuels and can be domestically produced.

States have lead the way on environmental and air quality issues, and the work at the Solar Center represents a way in which North Carolina is addressing these problems.

According to Aneja, the federal government has chosen not to engage these environmental issues and “the leadership provided by the states has been exemplary,” he said.

Though the federal government refrains from addressing these issues at the moment, “good ideas at the state level put pressure on federal officials to act,” Michael Struett, assistant professor of political science, said.

Many of the emission reduction and renewable energy-related policy initiatives to have come out of the states “have been in reaction to the failure to address these issues at the federal level,” Struett said.

The Solar Center’s work with alternative fuels and renewable energy sources has resulted in increased partnership opportunities between the University and the automotive industry.

The U.S. EPA recently announced that it will award the University with a $500,000 grant to form a partnership with Volvo to promote and facilitate the integration of idle reduction technologies through the design of a prep kit.

Idle reduction technologies are a “growing field of interest to the trucking industry,” Tazewell said, and this partnership with Volvo, whose North American headquarters are located in Greensboro, N.C., will make these existing technologies easier to integrate.

NCSU’s proximity to the state legislature and abundance of scientific and engineering expertise has put the University in a favorable position to lead the North Carolina economy towards sustainability, resulting in a cleaner environment and a stronger economy.

The Solar Center does not receive money from the University and is 100 percent grant-funded.