Democratic gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds made a stop at Virginia Tech's Research and Demonstration facility Tuesday to tour the Lumenhaus that will compete in the U.S. Department of Energy's solar decathlon.
President Charles Steger, College of Architecture and Urban Studies Dean Jack Davis and local House of Delegates representative Jim Shuler joined Deeds in learning about the project.
Lumenhaus is a solar home being built by a team of Tech students, led by faculty members such as project coordinator Joseph Wheeler and Robert Dunay, director of the Center for Design Research.
Deeds viewed a video presentation on the project before Wheeler took him on a tour of the partially constructed house.
Deeds called the project a step toward a new economic era.
"You've got to be prepared for the next big thing," Deeds said. "I think the next place for money to be made in this country is energy technology."
Lumenhaus is Tech's third house to be entered in the decathlon.
It will be moved to the Gables Center parking lot Thursday and operate for two weeks. The group is testing how much surplus power the house can add to the Blacksburg grid.
Deeds also spoke to the Collegiate Times about other issues facing the Blacksburg area.
He said a new economic plan would be needed to improve conditions in the struggling area, but regretted that the general assembly did not accept federal stimulus money to aid the unemployed.
"Well, first off, the general assembly made a mistake by rejecting the stimulus dollars that would've helped, particularly laid-off people who wanted to retrain to be well fitted for the new economy," Deeds said.
Deeds plans to give a tax credit to business owners for each job created.
"I've laid out very specific plans about economic development," Deeds said. "We need to first stimulate small business growth. I've got a plan to create a culture of entrepreneurship that leads with a tax credit. You create a job, you get a tax credit."
Deeds said making Virginia more attractive to business is the best way to boost the economy.
"We've got to develop a transportation system that becomes a model for the nation," Deeds said. "That's part of my 'build it and they will come' strategy - Field of Dreams strategy. You build the transportation system that becomes the model for the rest of the nation and you build the smartest work force in the world by investing in education."
Part of that strategy is allowing more Virginians to attend institutions of higher education.
"Make higher education more affordable, make it more accessible, you're going to attract the smartest jobs in the world to Virginia," Deeds said.
At the first gubernatorial debate at the Homestead Resort, Deeds said that while he supported the second amendment, he has "become convinced" the bill to eliminate the gun show loophole should be passed.
The bill, which was killed on the floor of the state senate in February, was supported by many families of April 16 victims.
"It's more than just being convinced," Deeds said. "I listened to both sides, and I tried to come up with a series of amendments, and I got that bill out of committee for the first time."
He said meeting the families in the aftermath of the shootings motivated him to support the bill.
"Losing a child is a pretty powerful thing," Deeds said. "My office was filled with Virginia Tech families twice, many of whom have lost children, and I just felt the need to respond to that grief."
Deeds said he tried to reach a compromise between public safety concerns of the bill and second amendment rights.
"I sat down and looked at the bill and I tried to come up with common sense ways that I thought would improve the bill, but not sacrifice any public safety interest the bill sought to achieve, and also not unnecessarily interfere with second amendment rights to own or possess firearms, which are rights I happen to believe in," Deeds said.
He also reacted to the recent discovery of April 16 shooter Seung-Hui Cho's mental health records at the home of former Cook Counseling Center director Robert Miller.
Deeds said there should be a review involving the records and what impact they could have had on the shootings.
"I think everybody is entitled to an answer and I've shared my views with the governor. I think somebody ought to review what happened," Deeds said. "Reality is, there's nothing anyone can do that's going to change what happened on April 16. We certainly can learn lessons from that incident that will improve public policy in the future that will make sure something like that doesn't happen again."