Wheatboard

An element of the Orr Cottage at Warren Wilson College is the use of wheat board for the desks and cabinets. People often ask us for additional information about this item. We encourage you to search the Internet for additional information. However, here is one link to information about this item. WWC in no way recommends the companies mentioned in this or any other material.

Wheat Board
The availability of wheatboard in North America has increased lately, and is used more and more in the display and design industry. The board is made of recycled wheat chaff, with an alternative isocyanate (MDI) binder that uses no formaldehyde, creating an EFB (emission-free board) soaring above industry standards for the highest grade of particle board.
[click on the title for additional information]

Geothermal

One element that will be featured in the field trip to the Orr Cottage is the use of Geothermal. Following are two links to articles printed in the USA Today on the use of Geothermal.

Push for geothermal juice picks up steam

by Paul Davidson, USA TODAY

There's good reason one of the nation's most promising renewable energies is the industry's best-kept secret: It's buried miles under the surface of the Earth.

Yet geothermal energy, which taps the Earth's natural heat to generate electricity, is making a big comeback after a decade-long lull. And a recent MIT-led report says geothermal could supply at least 10% of U.S. power by 2050, rivaling nuclear and hydropower, if afforded a $1 billion research investment over the next 15 years. [click on the title to read the entire article]

Study: Geothermal energy could meet large part of U.S. power need

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — The nation could generate a large part of the electricity it will need in the future by tapping the enormous amounts of heat energy locked up in hard rock below the earth's surface, a new Massachusetts Institute of Technology-led study indicated Monday.

Heat mining could supply energy at competitive prices and with minimal environmental impact, according to the 400-page report commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy to assess the value of continuing to fund geothermal energy study. [click on the title to read the entire article]

How Water Furnace Home Cooling System Works
http://www.waterfurnace.ca/Howitworks/cooling_system.htm