MSU will begin environmentally friendly automotive research in a new $10 million facility this fall. Research will focus on alternative energy and developing environmentally efficient engines, energy sources and hybrid vehicles.
The MSU College of Engineering’s Energy & Automotive Research Laboratories at Service Road and Bogue Street will be three times larger than the existing Automotive Research Experiment Station, 3361 Hullet Road, in Okemos, which researchers used for similar automotive research.
The new facility also will triple the faculty capacity.
About 50 graduate and undergraduate students will use the facility.
And the new building won’t cost students a dime.
Individual and corporate donors, including Ford Motor Co., provided half of the funding for the 29,000-square-foot facility.
University researchers received a $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop advanced combustion diesel engines using biofuel blends.
MSU used about $6 million from a $50 million grant the school received as part of the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, along with $5 million from Michigan’s 21st Century Jobs Fund.
MSU plans to sell the old Hullet Road facility with a listing price of $1.5 million, and the proceeds from the sale will likely help cover building costs.
This facility continues MSU’s commitment to environmentally focused research and environmental stewardship.
Hopefully, this state of the art facility draws in some experienced, strong professors who will benefit the MSU community, as well as students interested in such research.
Eann Patterson, mechanical professor, said it is the role of a university to conduct breakthrough research.
MSU is nationally and internationally known for its cutting edge research, and this project only improves that clout.
Energy efficiency and alternative energy are some of the most important issues for the developed world to consider, and MSU is joining only a few other universities engaged in such automotive research.
Most research facilities are commonly found at car companies.
Everyone who drives a car and buys gasoline should be in favor of the new facility and the research to ensue.
New demand for efficiency already has led engineers to begin looking beyond the traditional internal combustion engine.
Eventually, very efficient vehicles and hybrids should be available and affordable to almost everyone.
Such research has the potential to reduce the amount of oil and gasoline Americans rely on, and the technology will reduce carbon dioxide emissions and cost U.S. consumers less money.
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