CORTLAND — SUNY Cortland’s project installing more than 3,600 solar panels on campus, which went online in May, is not only the latest in the school’s green efforts, but also is the first project of its kind for the 64-campus SUNY system. The $3 million solar system in Cortland will produce 1.5 million kilowatt hours […]
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CORTLAND — SUNY Cortland’s project installing more than 3,600 solar panels on campus, which went online in May, is not only the latest in the school’s green efforts, but also is the first project of its kind for the 64-campus SUNY system.
The $3 million solar system in Cortland will produce 1.5 million kilowatt hours of solar electricity annually. That’s enough to power about 130 homes and equals 6 percent of SUNY Cortland’s annual energy use.
“It’s really a very innovative use of a state program,” says Frederic Pierce, director of public relations at the college. SolarCity, a San Mateo, Calif.–based company with an office in Albany, built and owns the system using a state grant through the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).
The Cortland project was one of 79 initiatives across the state to receive funding from the NY-Sun solar-energy program with NYSERDA. Since Gov. Andrew Cuomo launched NY-Sun in 2012, a total of 316 megawatts of solar-power systems have been installed or are under contract — more than was installed in the entire prior decade, the state says.
SolarCity built three solar installations with a combined total of 3,604 photovoltaic panels, including 2,244 ground-level panels near the SUNY Cortland campus physical plant and 680 panels each on the roofs of the Park Center Alumni Arena and the new Student Life Center set to open next January.
SUNY Cortland and SolarCity inked a 20-year purchasing agreement where SolarCity will own and operate the panels and the college will purchase the power produced at a set rate that will save about $200,000 in energy costs over the life of the agreement, according to SUNY Cortland.
Green commitment
Cost savings are not the driving factor behind the project, Pierce says. “It’s just the right thing to do,” he says of the college’s effort to be one of the greenest campuses in the U.S.
Those efforts go beyond installing solar panels, he notes. The campus also has geothermal and solar-thermal power sources and, last fall, became the first SUNY campus to fill all of its electrical needs with green power. The college gets its energy from a mix of on-site sources, like the new solar system, and purchases renewable-energy credits to supply the rest, Matthew Brubaker, interim campus energy manager, says.
“What we’d like to do is make sustainability part of all campus life,” Pierce says. To that end, the college has a program to reduce food waste, uses disposable utensils that are compostable, offers community bicycles for student use, and even hires “green” student reps in the dorms. Their job is to plan events that help raise student awareness on how to live sustainably.
In March, SUNY Cortland’s newest residence hall, Dragon Hall, became the first campus building in the SUNY system to achieve a platinum rating under the national Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification system, the university says.
The new Student Life Center is expected to receive LEED gold status when it opens next year. SUNY Cortland has been working since 2005 to ensure all new construction projects, as well as renovation work, meets or exceeds LEED standards, Pierce says.
When it was time to replace some of the campus buses, SUNY Cortland swapped out its diesel units for buses that burn propane, Pierce says. Along with using a cleaner-burning fuel source, the buses also feature illustrations of the SUNY Cortland Red Dragon mascot and “green” slogans to further promote awareness. The slogans include: “Red is Green,” Get Green Vision,” and “Jump on Board.”
SUNY Cortland hopes to soon begin an LED lighting project on several residence halls on the west side of campus, Brubaker says. The project should cut the campus’ energy use for lighting in half, Pierce notes.
“Down the road, I’d like to do a small wind installation,” Brubaker says, however, that project would be several years from now.
Along with the environmental benefits, the college’s green efforts also serve another important role, Pierce says. The on-campus green energy systems serve as living laboratories for the college’s master’s degree in sustainable energy systems degree program.
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