The fully functional solar panels on the roof of Withey Hall have not been used for eight years. Juniors John Warfel and Cody Currier have big plans for the panels on campus farm. Photo: Todd Martin.
BY TODD MARTIN
Walking around campus at Green Mountain College, you will notice a few renewable energy systems here and there. On the southern side of the Withey Hall roof, there is an array of eight shiny solar panels. On the hill at the farm there is a wind turbine, and on the farm you’ll find six solar panels powering one of the greenhouses. Solar panels and wind turbines are an environmentally friendly source of clean, renewable energy and we are fortunate enough here at GMC to have these resources. There’s only one problem: these systems are not currently functioning to their capacity.
The eight, fully functional solar panels on the roof of Withey Hall have been inoperative since 2001! Three out of the six solar panels on the farm powering the greenhouse are non-functional, which in turn reduced the growing capacity of the greenhouse. The battery bank that stores electricity from the wind turbine and greenhouse solar panels on the farm is dissipating electricity and needs to be replaced. As an environmental college with a climate action plan hot off the presses (please visit www.aashe.org to view it) that will help guide the institution towards its goal of carbon neutrality by 2011, Green Mountain needs these renewable energy systems to function to their capacity. Not only do they provide viable, clean electricity which helps Green Mountain reduce its consumption of oil, but they also symbolize the college’s environmental mission and commitment to climate neutrality, not to mention they look cool.
The solar panel array on the roof of Withey Hall was installed in 2001 as a part of a student project to get solar power on campus. This array is a 900-watt system capable of producing 800 kilowatt hours of electricity annually. When functioning properly, the eight solar panels were tied into the grid system which fed electricity into the college’s distribution center for use here on campus, saving the institution approximately $6,480 annually.
In 2001, Central Vermont Power Supply, the local utility, required Green Mountain College to install two parts before continuing to operate the system: an external disconnect switch and a modern inverter. The external disconnect switch would allow GMC to shut down the system in case of an emergency. The modern inverter would allow the data from the system to be displayed in order to demonstrate its capacity.
Since then, the institution has done nothing to solve the problem. Gary Marcy, the head of maintenance at GMC, told me in a recent e-mail that “an outside electrical contractor has been hired to address the exterior disconnect issue associated with the solar panels on Withey…The electrical contactor is working his way down the task list toward this specific project. The specific timing depends upon how easily and quickly we are able to address other issues currently on the list in front of this project.” In other words, it might take a while.
In the fall of 2006, a Student Campus Greening Fund, SCGF, student proposal allocated $3,500 to repair the Withey solar panel array. This money is still available in the SCGF budget and can still be used to repair the system. Concerning the Withey solar array, Steven Letendre, Associate Professor of Management and Environmental Studies says, “It is unfortunate that the solar system on Withey has been non-functional for eight years.”
It is time for us students to take this matter into our own hands, and that’s exactly what’s happening.
Since the beginning of the semester, juniors John Warfel and Cody Currier have been developing an ambitious plan for the Withey solar panels as part of Lucas Brown’s Environmental Design/Build class. Rather than repairing the Withey system by installing an external disconnect switch and an inverter, Warfel and Currier propose to remove the fully functional solar panels from Withey and install them on the campus farm for two practical and sustainable projects.
First, four of the eight solar panels would be used to replace the decommissioned solar panels on the farm’s greenhouse. This would provide all the electrical needs for the greenhouse including a light for the adjacent chicken coop, power tools, an irrigation system, and a ventilation system. Warfel has worked for his father installing solar thermal and photovoltaic systems for the past six years and has volunteered to replace and install the solar panels as a part of his class project. The remaining functional 30-watt panels on the greenhouse could be used for various small DC power applications on the farm such as lights and vents for the barn. The battery bank that stores electricity for the greenhouse solar panels and the farm’s wind turbine needs to be replaced as well, which Warfel estimates would cost the institution between $400 and $600. I propose that the $3,500 SCGF funds be used to purchase these batteries and other needs of the project.
Second, the remaining four Withey solar panels would be used to power a mobile workshop, a project currently being undertaken by juniors Garnett Morgan and John Warfel as a part of Steve Letendre’s Energy and Society class. The trailer would essentially be a mobile workshop and power source for onsite applications for the college’s new Renewable Energy and Eco Design (REED) program. Concerning the mobile workshop, Warfel says that “the trailer would be an enclosed aluminum equipment trailer retrofitted with a small photovoltaic system and battery bank used to power construction tools such as a table saw, workbench, lights, and outlets for job site needs.” The workshop would provide an invaluable resource for the college’s REED program and would help to establish it as an attractive Environmental Studies concentration. Concerning the two projects, Currier says that “these are learning experiences for students, including those who help install the panels and who help to maintain them in the future.”
It is time for GMC to utilize the solar panels atop the roof of Withey Hall. These fully functional panels have been sitting for eight years producing no electricity when we know how to fix the system and have the money to fund it. GMC burns 250,000 gallons of oil annually, releasing some 4,850,000 pounds or 4,667 metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. The new biomass facility currently under construction on campus will greatly reduce the institution’s climate impact, but the existing solar capacity on campus can help as well. The ambitious projects proposed by Warfel and Currier represent an efficient use of the Withey solar panels. The projects will greatly improve conditions on the campus farm and will serve as a learning opportunity for current and future students. As an environmental college with passionate students, it’s time for Green Mountain to stop postponing these issues and to finally see the light.
