Local Purdue Club to host renewable energy program

Sunday, February 23, 2014

The Purdue Club of Putnam County will be hosting a renewable energy program on Wednesday, March 12 at Autumn Glen, located at 98 N. 10th St. Greencastle.

The dinner program, presented by Chad Martin, Purdue University renewable energy extension specialist in agriculture and biological engineering, is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. and is open to the public.

"We are excited to bring this program to Putnam County," Purdue Club President Ron Birt said. "Many new technologies are being developed to make our country more energy independent. Purdue University is at the forefront of research and development in this area."

Martin focuses his extension efforts in the areas of on-farm energy efficiency, biomass energy resources and wind energy. He works with farm producers, small businesses, Purdue faculty and extension educators as well as state and federal government agencies.

He is a member of the Indiana Wind Working Group and with other Purdue faculty, has initiated the Indiana Biomass Energy Working Group.

Martin earned an A.A.S. degree in agriculture business from Joliet Junior College, a B.S. in agricultural education from Western Illinois University and an M.S. in agricultural and extension education from Purdue University.

His background in renewable energy began with working as a research and outreach associate with the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs (IIRA) at Western Illinois University. He worked specifically with the Agriculture Community Action Program, which helped organize Generation Cooperation to capitalize biofuels productions operations with farmer and local ownership throughout Illinois and he provided support to the IIRA's Illinois Wind Project.

Before coming to Purdue, Martin was the business development specialist with the Indiana Cooperative Development Center in Indianapolis. He has been involved representing Purdue Extension to form a pilot partnership with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo.

Tickets for the program are $20 for adults and $10 for students high school age and under.

Reservations can be made by Wednesday March 5 by contacting Sandy Williams at 653-3523 or Marianne Ash at 386-7554.

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