Ball State Alumnus Magazine, BioTown Project Propels State

Indiana is taking action and is well underway to establishing the prototype for relieving the nation's energy crisis while creating at least two by-products, a safer, cleaner environment and a boost to the state's economy. With an eye toward making the state a leader in the future of agriculture, the BioTown, USA initiative was launched last September in Reynolds, Indiana. The initiative will establish the nation's first town run by 100 percent biorenewable energy.

Reynolds is not a bustling metropolis. It is, rather, a slice of rural America, surrounded by farming communities and situated near Lafayette, along the Interstate 65 corridor in White County.

Can all the energy needs of Reynolds be found on the farms that surround it? BioTown advocates think so. John Motloch, professor of architecture and director of Ball State's Land Design Institute, is a member of the task force for the project. He explains why Reynolds is a good choice as BioTown. "It's isolated from suburban development and the residential communities around Reynolds are pretty much rural-based communities. They are not bedroom communities of urban areas."

Motloch suggests that the large amounts of animal production and their byproducts are another driving force for selecting Reynolds. "There's a major concentration in the area, including White and surrounding counties, of confined animal feeding operations. Those will provide large amounts of animal waste for conversion into electricity or power in the community," he says. More than 150,000 hogs can be found within a 15-mile radius of Reynolds, and there are several sources of organic waste products, making the town an ideal location for placing equipment to convert livestock waste and other biomass resources into energy for homes and businesses.

The BioTown plan has been developed in three phases. The first is to get local residents to use ethanol and biodiesel fuel in cars and trucks, all produced from corn and soybeans.

Phases two and three are to convert waste into electricity and natural gas. The entire project, according to Motloch, is on a compressed schedule. "The intention is that all three phases will be implemented within a two year period of time," he says. "The first phase, encouraging use of biofuels, is pretty much concluded, or at least the thrust on that phase is concluded."

That phase included an agreement through General Motors to award 20 two-year lease flex-fuel vehicles to Reynolds residents. It also includes the installation of biodiesel and E-85—85 percent ethanol—fuel pumps, expected to be available by early fall.

Phases two and three, including potential plans to transform animal waste from area livestock farms into electricity and natural gas, are in process and allow room for research and external participation, which Motloch describes as "an exciting opportunity for Ball State students and faculty. We can play a signifi cant role in this initiative that can positively impact Indiana communities," he says.

In a cooperative arrangement, Purdue University and Ball State planned and conducted three classes during the last spring semester. "The first was a renewable energy feedstock class which looked at four diff erent types of energy: ethanol production, biodiesel production, fuel pellet production, and production from animal waste," Motloch says.

Taught by Purdue biological and agricultural engineering professor, Cline Ilelhei, the course involved looking at the physical production of the energy and noting what byproducts are generated.

The second course, taught by Motloch, was a sustainable land systems class. The course reviewed green materials production, or, as Motloch explains, "production of materials in environmentally benign kinds of ways."

It looked at energy efficiency and the issues of how to connect to regional resources in a sustainable fashion, he says, "so our class looked at the byproducts of energy production and all of the kinds of things that we could do with those byproducts."

The third class was a graduate course in regional planning. Taught by Martha Hunt, Ball State assistant professor of landscape architecture, the course involved GIS mapping and regional decisions that optimize the use of regional resources. "Martha's class looked from the county scale down to the evolution of the town and key sites of the town," Motloch says. Hunt's and Motloch's courses dovetailed. Where Hunt concluded at the point of master planning issues of the town, Motloch's class took the reins to explore what could be done with the town's sustainable materials.

A culminating experience of the interinstitutional, interdisciplinary work was a pair of informational meetings for Reynolds residents. Hunt's students presented results of their study to townspeople who had been closest to the project. A separate, open community meeting gave professors and students the forum to present a review of the work of the three classes while also offering participants an opportunity to ask questions.

"It was quite a lively, positive discussion," Motloch says. "The only real concern that came out of the community was their desire to know more about what was going on."

Motloch contends the larger picture is easier to comprehend than the personal one. "It's really easy to see how [the BioTown project] relates to the large production farms and to the solid waste managers for the city and the county, and for potential ethanol and biodiesel producers. It gets a little fuzzier for the person on the street saying, ‘How does this really relate to me and affect me?'"

The town meetings brought the information to an individual level. "They were appreciative of hearing how the BioTown initiative might relate to John Q. Citizen," Motloch says. The event giving 20 people in the community the two-year free use of flex-fuel vehicles and the hype leading to the drawing "was a good way to engage the citizens so they could see first-hand how people in the community can benefit," he adds.

Motloch is excited about Ball State's involvement with BioTown. "Th notion of having this national level project here at our back door opens a lot of possibilities," he says.

In addition to his task force participation and the courses taught last year, Motloch will mentor ten students in an area of research and study in the coming academic year.

The students, members of the Business Fellows program funded through the Lilly Endowment, each will spend ten hours a week working in what Motloch calls, "an optimum immersion-learning experience for those involved. The ability to get the students interacting with members of the task force, interacting with people in the community, and pursuing a vision of eco-economic development comes with tremendous potential," he says.