Do you SERF?

FSU has always been a university about being environmentally friendly, but ever since going green has become the new trend to ride, Frostburg has looked deeper and deeper into sustainable energy sources and reducing our ecological footprint. One step FSU has taken is installing a windmill by the Fuller House. They have also had Potomac Edison improve many of the buildings on campus to save them thousands of dollars and millions
of watts of energy. Most recently, FSU has become a smoke free campus, which makes for cleaner air.

An ongoing project that is not too well known is called SERF, which stands for Sustainable Energy Research Facility. This facility will be completely off the grid. It will generate its electricity with wind and solar energy. Solar thermal and geothermal energy will be used for heating and cooling. Once this building is complete it will be used for research and be showcased to show others a self sufficient building.

SERF is funded by the Department of Energy with support and backing from Congressman Roscoe Bartlett. This 6,300 square foot building is estimated to cost around $2.4 million. Construction has already begun, but the completion date in unknown. When the project was officially launched in 2008, it was supposed to be complete in two years. Four years later, the ground has just barely been broken.