HIGHER ED INSTITUTIONS ARE CATCHING SOME RAYS-AND savings-by turning to the sun as an alternate power source. Two common applications involve photovoltaic panels, which convert sunlight into electricity, and solar heating, often used for preheating domestic water or swimming pools.
San Diego State University is part of a solar hybrid lighting project by Sempra Energy, as one of seven test sites in the nation. The institution had its first solar installation in 2000, according to energy manager William Lekas. Solar has since been added to three other buildings and a parking structure. Solar energy usage saves SDSU about 150,000 kilowatt-hours per year, which amounts to roughly $18,000 per year, says Lekas. "This enables us to continue to provide the total demand for the campus further into the future."
One would suspect that sunny California leads the collegiate pack with solar usage, but while there are certainly institutions there that use it, solar power is found in other regions too.
For example, Dickinson College (Pa.) is testing solar water heating equipment in a greenhouse at the college's organic farm to determine its efficiency in aiding year-round crop production. Solar panels have also been installed on the roof of Kaufman Hall, a move that has saved the college an estimated $3,300 in energy costs since last September, explains Matt Steiman, biodiesel plant supervisor and assistant farm manager.
"We're just able to use power more efficiently by generating on site," adds Steiman. "That's the beauty of solar-we make the electricity on the roof when the sun shines-and we use that to run our computers and lights."
How quick a return on investment solar produces can vary by climate, with locales where sunlight is more prominent having a faster gain, explains Julian Dautremont-Smith, associate director of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. States are also offering grants and other financial incentives to promote solar development at IHEs. To read about other institutions with solar power, visit AASHE's website: www.aashe.org/resources/solar_campus.php. -Michele Herrmann
A Bright Idea
IF TOWN/GOWN RELATIONS BUILD a strong link between a college and its community, then energy sustainability could perhaps be a hands-on, joint effort in promoting conservation between neighbors.
Last summer, four students from Northland College (Wis.) took a door-to-door approach in encouraging residents in Wisconsin's greater Ashland area to rethink energy use in their homes by distributing compact fluorescent light bulbs and fliers with household-related tips to approximately 4,000 homes.
While trying to motivate citizens to think about energy sustainability, the goal was also to educate them about the financial savings that can come from a simple bulb change, explains sustainable systems educator Clare Hintz. "We estimate they saved about $7,200 just by swapping out that one light bulb we gave them."
Since March 2007, Northland has been working with the Alliance for Sustainability (www.allianceforsustainability.org), a Wisconsin grassroots organization, and other community groups to implement "Natural Step," a series of guidelines for sustainable growth in the state's Chequamegon Bay Area. Leaders in the four towns the students visited were already applying these guidelines to their operations to save energy and cut costs.
"We wanted a way to involve local homeowners and get them excited about what the towns were doing as well," says Hintz about the program. Two similar programs are being planned for this summer. During their visit, the students also handed out free passes for the region's transit system.
Students are taking the lead in other ways, too. In Michigan, two students from Albion College's Institute for the Environment made a presentation on beneficial conservation actions to Albion's City Council this past fall, which resulted in the city purchasing a new truck that runs on biofuel. -M.H.
