European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 30, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday. August 30, 1978 the stars and stripes Pago 19 architectural rendering shows How Community College at Blytheville arlc., which will be nation s fir to War powered Campus will look. Rows behind facility Are solar collectors Khar cafe Pluf Sun to Power Arkansas College by Paul Parsons United press International healthy soybean crop now stands where the nation s first solar Energy College Campus will be built compliments of the Federal gov Wient. Or. Harry v. Smith president of Mississippi count Community College at Blytheville ark., surveyed the sit from an open Field near the soybean  lot of people Are kind of amazed that a Rural com Wenty College in Arkansas would get a project like this Smith said. I m honestly not that amazed. We made an innovative enough proposal to be accepted for Federal rating that s  Sull one tends to think of science breakthroughs As of Ujj Jung in major metropolitan areas or perhaps neigh we Texas not in Mississippi River Delta country own More for its soybeans than its scientific achieve ments. But Blytheville had More going for it than just an Abun since of Sunshine. For starters the proposal to build the nation Stout solar powered Campus was unsolicited so it fun t have formal Competition. For Enders the late sea. John Mcclellan d-ark., a Power in Washington for decades decided Arkansas needed the project and pushed actively for funding. Wee president Walter Mondale came to Little Rock year and announced the $6.3-miliion Grant from we ral Energy research and development a Duimstra next a. Calling the project an important step in Peter s plan to develop and demonstrate solar tech nolo Grant coupled with a $2.5 million bricks and War county Bond Issue will finance construction 01 a  Campus. Of is to construct the facility Are due in a x5 Tual construction expected to begin later this or. Integration crisis some Yean ago and now lease from the school District for $1 a year. Its nursing division a couple of blocks away is Tedoor to a Pawn shop. When the doors open on the new facility a degree pro Gram in solar technology already will be under Way at the College. Smith said Macc will not be the Only Campus with solar technology but ours will be unique because we will have a Campus that is a  limited number of students probably 20 will be accepted for the special program this fall he said. They will become Eperu in the solar held Smith said. They la be fully prepared to go into the world of work. And it Stoat be a rather lucrative  Smith said students from 20 states already have inquired about the solar technology program. We re a local College though he said. We Don tha Edoms so housing would be a problem and this is a s town we re not designed to take on a National pro 6rtteadvantage of solar Energy of course goes beyond ill Tennial of reducing the nation s dependence on non described How the system i designed to work. The two year old Community College f. A in an old grammar school abandoned in an father is outside. He said the College and Arkmo plan to appear  the Arkansas Public service commission to seek a lower non Peak time rate so the Battery can be charged a night at a reduced Cost. Outside Walls will be highly reflective porcelain enamel steel panels that should not require  will have Energy saving features such As unusually thick Walls tinted windows crass ventilation embankments of Earth to insulate lower parts of the Walls and natural lighting arrange ments. A computer will be designed to adjust the artificial lighting based on the amount of Light coming into a room from the school s plentiful  the three connected classroom buildings will be the heart of the solar Energy concept 281 sunlight col lectors spanning several acres. The photovoltaic cells being developed will use mirrors to concentrate the sunlight allowing the collectors to capture the benefits of 20 suns. The solar collectors balding nearly 51,060 of the two Inch cells will rotate behind the Campus Fol lowing the Sun s rays across the sky. It s a fascinating thing Smith said resuming to his office in the old grammar school from a trip to the new site. Sunlight Falls on it. Excites the electrons and it be comes a do current just like a Battery. The More Light you put on it the More Energy you pro Duce. This is not the first application of this Type cell but it will be the Only one in which an entire installation  so far Only an Macc sign and a Small Fence enclosed weather station that tracks the Sun and Sam Ples atmospheric conditions stand on the 80-Acrtsite, located less than a mile from interstate 55 in the Northeast Corner of Arkansas. Otherwise weeds disguise a 130.000 dirt pad built to elevate the facility from the Flat Low lying Delta land sur rounding it. And on the Back 20 acres behind the dirt  the soybean Field. This is where perhaps in less than a year a Field of sunlight collectors May provide the technology necessary to bring solar Energy into everyday use