Harnessing the Sun

Thanks to a partnership with Siemens, the Spencer Hill campus is starting to get a little greener.  While the wintery weather has already blanketed the campus in snow, the energy retrofits started this past summer are already paying dividends. One of the more exciting pieces of this project has been the installation of a 5.12 kW solar array. This array is expected to provide enough electricity for the average NY home and is one of the many ways in which the College hopes to use less energy while seeing cost savings.

This may not seem like a large amount of energy when you consider the size of our campus, but what you can’t count in kilowatts is the impact this has on the classroom and the learning opportunities for our students. Do you know how a solar panel works? Do you know the chemical process and materials it takes to make a solar panel? These are a few of the questions our Chemical Instrumentation classes can answer for you. Additionally, our Environmental Science students are discussing how photovoltaics work, the best sites for solar panels, the efficiency of solar panels, and studying the average household electricity usage. Then there is the business of making our spaces greener. Our Economics classes will be discussing the cost to purchase and install a solar array, what subsidies we receive for installing, and most importantly, determining the long term return on the investment.

From the science classes to the economics classes we can expect over 300 students a year will be using the data our solar array is providing. Stay tuned in 2020 for more updates on the Siemens partnership and the College’s STEAM Innovation Zone.