Group will consider more solar power on campus

January 14, 2014

Marmian Grimes

People interested in picking good sites for a new solar energy project on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus can attend a meeting at 2:30 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 22, at the upper floor of Lola Tilly Commons.

The meeting will collect insights from the campus community. A teleconference number will be available for those that can't be there in person. Please email cmkemper@alaska.edu or mahebert@alaska.edu for the number. 

The goal is to show aesthetically pleasing retrofits, with the panels being blended to look like windows on some buildings, or, if the look would be better, (say maybe on the Brooks Building) to pleasingly showcase panels.  Installation on core campus buildings in the highest traffic areas could show possibilities and encourage further innovation. There is no wattage goal; that will depend on the chosen site and what can fit within the accepted visual pattern.

As an engineering school and leader in sub-polar energy innovations, UAF can expand awareness of how renewable energy can supplement costly, polluting and unreliable sources. The vulnerability of transmission lines, for example, was demonstrated this winter with multiple extended power outages across Alaska.