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Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering

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Zhao and Chen receive Ohio State University Outreach and Engagement Award

March 31, 2020
The team conducts a tour of the ENCORE House, which features many passive and active design strategies to minimize energy losses, while maximizing energy efficiency

The OSU Green Home Technology Center was recently announced as recipients of a 2020 Community Engaged Program Award from The Ohio State University Office of Outreach and Engagement. The team is led by Lingying Zhao and Victoria Chen, both faculty in the Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering. 

The Community Engaged Program Award recognizes outstanding achievement by faculty, staff and/or student led programs/initiatives focused on community-university partnerships and impact.

“Our green home team has been very passionate about our collaborations with many community partners in promoting green home designs and technology applications in Ohio,” says Zhao. “This award will encourage us to seek more collaboration opportunities to promote green homes in Ohio through research, education, and outreach and engagement programs.”

Present adoption of green home design and technology faces many barriers in Ohio and around the nation, including education, training, materials, technology, and professionals. This Ohio State-community-industry partnership aims to establish a Green Home Technology Center (GHTC) and to develop, demonstrate, and disseminate effective green home technologies for a transformational change in residential energy consumption and environment impact.

“Our study suggests that it is imperative to fill the knowledge gap among homeowners, educate them about reasonable expectations on return on investment, and increase their awareness of non-energy benefits that could be achieved through home energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements,” says Chen. “This is why we set up the Green Home Technology Center web portal with various accessible educational materials and tools.”

The team’s website, greenhome.osu.edu, provides dynamic education on green home technologies, virtual tours of emerging green homes in Ohio, and links to useful resources. They also publicized Ohio State research findings, education materials, and outreach educational programs at the online platform. Since its inception in 2016, the website has reached over 14,000 users. 

Learn more about the OSU Green Home Technology Center here

Learn more about the Outreach and Engagement Awards and read the full recipient list here.