The Future is Bright

Sustainability students and professors are hoping that it will be always sunny in Lyndonville, not just in Philadelphia.

After more than a year of working on financing and planning, students and professors have installed a solar system near the alumni house that will produce 5000 watts of AC power when the sun shines.

On average, the system will produce about 15 kilowatt-hours of energy per day. This is roughly the amount of power that it takes to run the alumni house.

"It is important to keep in mind that this project is a home-scale system," says assistant professor of natural sciences and physics, Ben Luce, who played a major role in securing funds for and designing the system. "Its purpose is basically to power the Alumni House, or something of similar scale and to give students experience with a home-scale system."

The amount of electricity that the solar system is saving the system that was installed is very small, but as the price of solar power is decreasing, the school is able to explore the possibility of placing much larger solar systems on the roofs of some of our buildings.

"I certainly believe that LSC should and will continue to move towards appropriate renewable energy and practices, particularly solar," says student Samantha Wolf, who was involved in the project. "It certainly shows prospective students what we can do here and how seriously we take our carbon footprint."

This project began when Professor Luce found out that Senator Bernie Sanders was helping to find assistance for high schools in Vermont that were interested in solar power. Once Luce contacted the Senator's office, the senator also found financing for LSC.

After over a year of working to receive this financing, the college received a grant for $32,500 from the Department of Energy through the State of Vermont under the provision that the college would also put $10,000 into the funding for the equipment, as well as providing labor.

 "I am very proud to have worked with Lyndon State College to fund the installation of solar panels on campus," said Senator Sanders. "This project is one more step to move Vermont to sustainable energy, and will help give students and professors at the College a unique opportunity to incorporate solar energy into the curriculum."

Once the equipment was received students in Luce's Energy and Environment class began assembling the mouting racks of it inside to ensure that the holes were all drilled correctly and would fit the solar modules.

The system was installed this past weekend on Dec. 4, by students and professors.

"The crew worked all day transporting the components, assembling scaffolding, lifting the heavy components into place, and then hours of bolt tightening well into the evening hours," said Luce. "One of the student's dogs kept the crew company and was renamed "Sundog".

There are still a few tasks remaining including finishing the wiring and connecting the system to the power grid, but Luce and others involved hope to finish the project before the beginning of next semester.

Natural sciences professor Mike Miller, who says his role in the project was limited to showing up on Sunday with work gloves on and a wrench in hand, thinks that this is a project that LSC can really be proud of.

"It was fun to be a part of it and I learned a lot, including witnessing the panels being tested real-time with an amp meter while they captured their first clean rays of light energy," Says Miller. "The installation of a solar array on campus is epic in many way.  The new solar arrays are en exciting environmental addition that the entire school can be proud of."

Brian Boynton, another student who helped with the project, also thinks it's a positive move for LSC.

"I think it is important because it will reduce the use of fossil fuels, and save the college money in the process.  It is also very good to have this resource available for students to learn from, especially in the sustainability department," say Boynton.

Now that the system is installed, Luce and his students will study the performance of the system in detail.