New 'green' UWO building

OSHKOSH - UW-Oshkosh is scheduled to start construction on a new academic building Friday, Oct. 16. The university says it is a much needed project, to handle a record enrollment of more than 13,000 students.

"We've added 1,500 students to our campus in the last five or six years," said UWO chancellor Rick Wells. "That's equivalent to adding a small college."

Beyond accommodating students, the building is scheduled to be the largest in state built to the highest standard of energy efficiency. It will be complete with dozens of solar panels, a green roof -- literally, with vegetation -- and possibly small wind turbines.

Wells says the sustainable energy practices will save the school an estimated $182,000 annually in utility costs.

Of the $48 million price tag on the new building, $40 million of that is coming from the state.

When it comes to green energy projects, some have concerns about the return on taxpayers dollars.

"I don't see how it benefits citizens," said Nadine Leuhring, of Oshkosh.

Leuhring and her husband Ted are coordinating a non-partisan tea party event at the Winnebago County Courthouse, Saturday October, 10. The focus on what they call wasteful government spending. They say some forms of green energy is a part of that.

"If that windmill is manufactured in Germany and shipped over to Wisconsin and set up in Wisconsin, how is that green jobs in Wisconsin after it is setup?" said Ted Leuhring.

However, Wells says that setup process can not be overlooked.

"That will directly or indirectly create thousands of jobs, hundred of construction jobs," he said.

Although he did not have exact numbers, Wells said he does not think building 'green' added much to the price tag of the project.

The chairman of Oshkosh's Sustatinability Board, Ron Hardy, who also works at the UWO library, says any added cost will easily be made back.

"I think the cost savings that you get back from the energy savings from a project like this, in actually 10 to 20 years," said Hardy. "When you look at the buildings around here some of them have been here 40-50 years. So it does come back."

The new academic building is scheduled to be ready by the fall of 2011. It will be the first free standing academic building to be added to the school since 1971.