By Julie Bierach, KWMU
SAINT LOUIS, MO – The newest campus of the St. Louis Community College is using a new energy conservation tool, based on making the Wildwood site more "green."
Electric plug-ins are at the base of parking lot lamp posts for electric-powered cars. Pam McIntyre, acting-president of the college, she says as an institution for higher learning they have a responsibility to students to plan for the future, and electric cars are the future.
"They would just pull in here, plug it in, go to class and when they came back from class their car would be charged and ready to go," said McIntyre.
Officials are realistic that for the technology to be beneficial people first must drive electric cars. Architects determined that the school will only need about twenty-five plug-ins over the next five years, but as demand increases they have the ability to add more.
The campus also includes technology to collect rainwater for irrigation and the ability to harvest natural light.
The Wildwood campus opened July 30.