Rio Grande going green

The Rio Grande Campus may soon be home to a new solar panel.

The three kilowatt panel, which will be used to convert solar energy into electricity, will generate approximately enough energy to run an average household.

Although Rio Grande's electricity use is many times that of the average household, 100 percent of the solar energy gained from the panel will be converted to electricity and utilized.

Austin Energy's Solar on Schools Program, under the State Energy Conservation Office, will provide funding for Austin Community College's installation of the solar panel. The solar energy will be fed into an Austin Energy electrical grid and the energy produced will be credited to ACC's account. A similar rebate program is also available for residential homes wanting to use solar energy.

Saad Eways, Assistant Dean of Mathematics and Sciences, along with physics professor John Allen Underwood, were encouraged to look into the solar panel option after students in the science department expressed interest. After contacting Austin Energy and filling out an online application on behalf of ACC, Eways was approved for a state grant to pay for the installation at Rio Grande.

The only remaining setback is getting approval from the Texas Historical Society, since the campus is situated in an area considered a historical site; thus, building projects must be approved by the society.

Eways and other representatives from ACC will be meeting with the THS in November. They hope that the addition of the solar panel will be well-received, and plans for installation can get underway. Many others at ACC, including electrical staff, groundskeepers and maintenance staff, have worked hard to push the project forward.

The installation would be completed by the spring of 2008 if ACC gets the final go-ahead.

The solar panel will be used as a tool to educate and integrate discussion about alternative forms of energy as a part of ACC courses. It will also serve as a visual to both science and non-science students at RGC, as well as the surrounding community, with the intention that they will "seriously consider these sources as legitimate sources of energy," according to Eways.

"For the young generation coming up now, we owe them the need to learn it's not just a novelty," he stated. The solar panel will be approximately 200 sq. ft., rectangular in shape and will be mounted on a single 15 ft. pole between the Annex and the main building facing west, which is considered to be the best spot.

Austin Energy will install the panel and is including, as an added bonus, a battery pack for use in experiments. All of this will be paid for under the grant.

The project should give students an appreciation for renewable sources of energy in whatever field they choose in the future. As Eways explained, "We want them to understand the limitations as well as the promises of solar energy."