Athens residents can expect to see at least 75 - 100 job openings within the next five years at a company that makes energy efficient ultra-cool freezers.
The Ohio Controlling Board approved a $1 million grant Monday to divide between the Global Cooling Manufacturing Company, its cooperative in Cincinnati and researchers at Ohio University and Cleveland State University.
These kind of technologies hold great promise for job creation in Southeast Ohio
said Debbie Phillips, 92nd district representative. I think we can be real leaders in moving ahead with a more secure energy-related economy in the country.
The grant will also allow Global Cooling to expand its production to make larger freezers that target the -80 to -150 degree Celsius range to compete in a broader market, said Jesse Edwards, the business's development manager.
Scientific researchers and medical workers use these freezers to store items like pharmaceuticals, stem cells, metal processing equipment or other biomedical products, he said. Global Cooling's freezers use a significant amount of watts less than the competition and can last for hundreds of thousands of hours, opposed to a usual 5,000 hours that less efficient freezers last, he added.
Our product is much more reliable and it is almost a no-brainer he said. But we don't have coolers big enough to compete in the mainstream market which is what we got the grant for.
The grant would help the company crank out at least 100,000 freezers a year, if successful. He said that the company would hire technical engineers and maintenance workers, including one or two undergraduate engineering students and some masters level students.
OU and Cleveland State will receive about $50,000 from the grant to fund one graduate student and professor at each school to research in this field as well, Edwards said.
Phillips said that she hopes opportunities like this one will encourage students to stay in the area after graduating from OU.
It is very important for me as a mom that we have opportunities for young people to flourish in southeast Ohio
she said.
More grants aiding economic growth in the environmentally efficient technology sector will be available for companies in the area soon, she said. On Feb. 2 officials from the Advanced Energy Job Stimulus Program will come to Athens to offer possible grants to companies like Global Cooling.
The grant will also create about 150 additional jobs in Cincinnati, where Global Cooling has a production facility, Edward said.
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Caitlin McGlade
