Public Invited to View New Design of EIU's Proposed Energy Center

April 17, 2009

Eastern Illinois University President Bill Perry invites the community to view an updated design of EIU's proposed Renewable Energy Center from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 22.

The public meeting, which will include a report on the status of the project, will be held in the Rotary Room at the Charleston Carnegie Public Library, 712 Sixth St.

The new design for the Renewable Energy Center was created after EIU officials received community input at public meetings earlier this year.

Plans call for the Renewable Energy Center to be built near the intersection of 18th Street and Edgar Drive. The biomass gasifier would supply the university's heating and cooling needs by burning plant matter.

The structure is designed to be an economical and ecologically friendly answer to Eastern's critical power needs, made necessary by the deterioration of the university's current coal-fired power plant, which was built in 1925.