CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland Botanical Garden and Kent State University’s Liquid Crystal Institute - recognized internationally as the pioneering scientific center for research in the field - today announced a partnership to design and construct unique research greenhouses on the Garden’s campus.
By combining the expertise of the Garden and the University, the partnership could, in effect, control sunlight, extending the plant growing season and conserving energy.
The overarching goal of this research is to determine liquid crystal’s potential for creating more sustainable, energy-efficient greenhouses. Researchers at Kent have developed liquid crystal windows that “switch” to different shading. These windows cab be used to manipulate sunlight entering a greenhouse, thereby controlling the temperature and even light wavelengths entering the greenhouse to more efficiently grow commercial and food plants, extending the growing season.
Cleveland Botanical Garden and Kent State will launch a series of studies over the next two to three years that will focus on optimizing the system design that incorporates liquid crystal window technology in greenhouses. They will study and develop these windows for use on exterior surfaces with more extreme challenges of intense light and heat. While Kent research have previously investigated these windows for exterior applications they have only been used commercially for on interior spaces.
“This initiative,” says Natalie Ronayne, the Garden’s executive director, “speaks to our ongoing commitment to sustainability and conservation. The energy crisis and corresponding global climate change issues call for increasing partnerships to contemplate alternatives, educate the public, and push ourselves to maximize our energy conservation and minimize our footprint on the earth.”
The Garden’s leadership embarked upon this project as part of its long-range conservation plan and in response to the energy demands of The Eleanor Armstrong Smith Glasshouse, an 18,000 square foot conservatory showcasing two endangered ecosystems, the spiny desert of Madagascar and the cloud forest of Costa Rica. Outside the Garden, the development of sustainable greenhouses that are adaptable to different climates and regions could breathe new life into Ohio’s signature “green” industries - floriculture, nursery and landscape - while also contributing to a more environmentally sustainable world.
Kent State’s Liquid Crystal Institute (LCI) was the natural partner. The LCI is the world leader in liquid crystal research and education. Its research has produced patents, commercial products and spin-off companies, including “switchable” glass panels.
“This is a huge opportunity for Kent State and for the Cleveland Botanical Garden,” said Dr. John L. West, vice president for Research and dean of Graduate Studies at Kent State. “The project combines liquid crystal technology, horticulture and architecture to harness sunlight. There is great potential for spin-off industries and technology, grant funding for both energy efficiency and plant growth and wide benefits to the public.”
In keeping with its core mission as an educational institution, the Garden will inform visitors and the public at-large about the project and its real-time progress, raising awareness, understanding, and acceptance of new, practical solutions for the world’s environmental issues. Results of this study may also have applications beyond the commercial greenhouse industry to residential greenhouses, conservatories, and major office and museum-like glass structures.
Cleveland Botanical Garden, which began as the Garden Center of Greater Cleveland, the country's first urban garden center, celebrated its 75th anniversary year in 2005. A nonprofit garden, the institution is a national leader in urban horticulture and botanical education. From its 10-acre campus in University Circle to three inner-city learning gardens and dozens of outdoor classrooms at area schools, the Garden has introduced the benefits of gardening to thousands of people of all ages, interests, backgrounds and abilities. Since its founding in 1930, education has been the core of the Garden’s mission, guiding expansion in recent years to include urban outreach, school programs that support national academic standards, and sustainable economic development. It has 6,000 members and bi-annually hosts the nation’s largest outdoor flower show. The Garden's website is at www.cbgarden.org.
Pioneering breakthroughs in liquid crystal display materials and technology at the Glenn H. Brown Liquid Crystal Institute and the Center for Advanced Liquid Crystalline Optical Materials (ALCOM) place Kent State in the pivotal role of the world's largest and most comprehensive academic center devoted to research on flat-panel display systems, devices that improve everything from computerized cockpits to laptop computers. Active research collaborations with scientific centers and industrial partners in the United States and abroad continue to provide exciting opportunities for applying today's cutting-edge research to tomorrow’s technologies, spinning off commercial products and start-up companies that benefit the region and state.
Media Contacts:
Kent State: Scott Rainone, 330-672-8595, srainone@kent.edu
Cleveland Botanical Garden: Peter Vertes, 216-707-2839, pvertes@cbgarden.org