Lessons Learned Inside Solar Powered Classroom At APSU

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CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Clarksville is looking greener each day, thanks in part to the arrival of Hemlock Semiconductor, a company that manufactures the materials for solar panels.

Hemlock's education partner, Austin Peay State University has solar panels of its own. The unit helps power the classroom at the university's environmental education center. It also gives students in APSU's renewable energy class a valuable learning tool.

"One thing that we always like to stress is hands on learning, seeing the stuff up close, learning how it works, learning some of the basics of it," said APSU professor Donald Sudbrink.

APSU's environmental education center also makes its own biodiesel from kitchen grease, and plans to build a wind turbine on site later this school year.

The solar panels and biodiesel converters were paid for by Austin Peay's students, who pay a sustainability fee each semester to fund renewable energy projects.

Austin Peay's University Farm also hopes to partner with Hemlock and other companies in the future as perhaps as a testing site for new green technology.