By Lloyd Metcalf

What if SMCC were off the grid? If we throw out all budgetary concerns, what would the ripple effect look like for SMCC to go to a completely self-sufficient power and energy system?

We would be a shining jewel of a campus gleaming in the state at the forefront of alternative energy. It would not be a small feat, but it would be a milestone accomplishment. We would be launched into the spotlight as brilliant leaders with global thinking and application of ideals. We would be an example to our community. The ability of our students and staff would be highlighted everywhere.

What alternative energies, you may ask? This is not just a solar-panel scenario, but wind and tidal turbines as well. Wind turbines don’t need to be giant behemoths with tremendous propellers whop-whop-whopping away. Vertical-axis spiral turbines are far more efficient, eco-friendly and quiet. Tidal turbines can harness the ocean tides, operating off the ebb and flow without intruding significantly on aquatic life.

Even the equipment at the gym could feed the campus grid, or our doors (when we open and close them). Many other movements that people make could, with a little thought, be turned into energy to feed our learning and living spaces.

In recent years there has been an avalanche of new and exciting ways to create energy without burning coal or firing up a nuclear reactor. How would this affect other businesses in our community? How would it affect the way our state and college is seen locally? Globally? If we were completely removed from Central Maine Power dependency, what would that mean?

If we went one step further and considered taking our horticultural and agricultural programs into account, we could supply our own culinary system and cafeteria with fresh local produce generated by our own students. Such a complete undertaking would involve many of the SMCC student skill sets. Welders, builders, business managers, planners, designers, chefs, engineers, artists — all of these are found among the student body. Not only would the campus be at the cutting edge, we would be an exemplar in immediately putting the skills our students are here to learn to real-world applications.

Even writing this, I can already hear the groans of “How much would all that cost?” Such a thing is not the point of the “What If” column; it’s simply to ask the question “What if…” For a moment, let’s not think of ways something could never work, but of ways it MIGHT work.

As the planet warms up and we burn through carbon fuels at an unprecedented rate, eventually these “what if” questions turn into “we must” scenarios if we want to continue growing as a society. Oil is finite. So go ahead, ask “What if?” and start small.

Can we make our doors feed the grid? Sitting here in Hague Hall on the South Portland Campus on a Friday afternoon for a few minutes, the external door was actuated somewhere around 25 to 28 times; the internal stairwell door to the main floor, more than that. Why isn’t that motion being used to generate power?

We are a collection of people focused on the practical application of science and technology. We have more than 6,000 bright and motivated minds participating in the educational system at SMCC. I refuse to believe that some solutions couldn’t be found if we all asked “What if?” once in a while.