Colloquium Adds Topical Touch of 'Green' to Snow-Covered Landscape

As nose-numbing, furnace-fanning winds rustled the trees around Klump Academic Center Auditorium on Thursday night, those gathered inside warmed to the notion of a toasty home that balances energy usage with money-saving efficiency. "Sustainable and Affordable Home Building," featuring two faculty speakers and three students involved in a national design competition, was the opening presentation in Penn College's Centennial Colloquia Series on technology and society. During an enlightening hour, supplemented by interactive polling and preceded by a slide show of home styles and living conditions across the globe, the group addressed building-science concepts – and how they are incorporated into the students' contest entries – various methods of measuring power consumption, examples of faculty/student building projects throughout the college's history and the importance of an energy audit to keep utility dollars from literally flying out the door. Faculty presenters Dorothy J. Gerring and Robert A. Wozniak, associate professors of architectural technology, were joined by students Maxwell A. Davert, of Greene, R.I.; Michael J. Engel, of Williamsport; and Michelle M. Holzmann, of Saylorsburg, one of two college teams in the Department of Energy's Challenge Home Student Design Competition in Denver. (Gerring summarized the work of the second team: Corey A. Bittner, of Catawissa; Eric Gaydos, of Mohrsville; Matthew A. Lech, of Johnstown; and Melissa L. Warner, Stroudsburg.) Davert and Warner are building science and sustainable design students; the other five are enrolled in building science and sustainable design: architectural technology concentration. Watch for more on the design competition and further Centennial Colloquia presenters.
Photos by Craig R. Urey, student photographer