By Tyler Kula, www.theobserver.ca The Observer
A sustainable “smart home” about to rise at Lambton College will be a community resource for students, engineers and the general public, the college’s
president says.
“The smart home is a facility that will demonstrate the newest technologies in renewable energy, in alternative energy,” Tony Hanlon said Wednesday,
when the college received a $100,000 gift from The Co-operators Foundation and local agent Franco Filia.
Groundbreaking will begin next month on the $1.2-million home, which will feature solar, geothermal and possibly hydrogen fuel cell technology, Hanlon
said. “It will be a demonstration for our alternative energy program. It will be an education centre for people from the community that want to come
in and see the latest technologies.”
Anyone looking to renovate may want to check out the 2,500- square-foot home. The college has partnered with manufacturers to show off the latest in
products.
“They want to demonstrate those products, obviously, Hanlon said. “We’ll also be testing some of those products to validate that they are as efficient
as they say they are.”
The home going up near the college’s London Road entrance and expected to open next spring, will allow technology to be removed and updated
constantly.
“We have a number of initiatives and many are built around sustain-ability and the use of alternative energy systems,” Hanlon said.
The Co-operators donation raised the college’s Inspiring the Future campaign to $2.12 million, with a $5 million target.
“This is the largest donation by a small-medium sized enterprise that we’ve received,” Hanlon said.
It’s also the first large donation The Co-operators has made to the college, said regional vice president Don Viau.
“We’re in insurance: house insurance,” added Filia, vice chairperson of the Lambton College Foundation and a local Co-operators agent. “So we thought
the sustainable house could come back and help us out down the road.”
tkula@theobserver.ca
Observer Article ID# 2616846
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