Thirteen hours a day, 365 days a year, all of the computers in the Ford Motor Company Engineering Design Center’s mechatronics lab could be powered by the sun if the university approves a new, “green” proposal by a group of Northwestern engineering students.
The McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science student group Engineers for a Sustainable World is seeking funding and university approval to install a grid-tied solar electricity generating panel on the roof of the Ford Center, said fourth-year McCormick student Phil Dziedzic, a leader of the project team. The solar panel would be the first of its kind at NU.
Dziedzic is also a member of Green It Now, a newly established subgroup of ESW that works on local sustainability projects. Last year, the group conducted energy audits of various buildings on campus.
The Ford Center was selected as the site for the solar panel because “it is already a model for low energy use (on campus),” Dziedzic said. The building was the first at NU to achieve the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building’s silver certificate, according to the Ford Center’s Web site. Dziedzic also said that the building’s flat, bare roof makes it a logical site for the installation of such a panel.
ESW members have devised two different proposals, depending on the amount of funding they receive. The first proposal, for a large, 16-kilowatt system, would cost $106,000. The second, for a small, 2.4-kilowatt system would cost $16,000. Pending total installation costs, the large panel would pay for itself through electricity savings in three to eight years.
Before the project can move forward with estimates and installation, it needs the approval of the McCormick administration and Facilities Management. If approved, the panel would be funded by a combination of state grants and incentives, NU funding and grants and “additional private funding,” Dziedzic said.
Though the proposal is still in its early stages, the project members are pleased with its reception on campus so far.
“We already have a lot of support,” said McCormick graduate student Justin Scott, a project member. “It is a little overwhelming actually. We are very optimistic about heading forward with our effort.”
Another step that ESW has taken in building up support for the project on campus is getting the endorsements of student groups.
So far, 27 student groups including several sororities and fraternities, volunteer organizations, advocacy groups and cultural groups have given the project their official endorsement. Dziedzic said he believes that student group endorsements are an important step in getting the project off the ground.
“We want to show that students really want something like this on campus,” he said.
The installation of a solar panel on campus would move NU further into the future of sustainable energy, said McCormick Prof. David Dunand, co-director of the year-old Initiative for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern.
“Many universities already have solar energy panels, and this will increase as the price of solar panels goes down,” Dunand said. “I am very convinced that if the proposal is well-written and convincing, the university will find money to put toward the project.”
Dunand added that NU already receives a significant percentage of its electricity from sustainable sources like wind power. An advantage of solar panels is they produce electricity locally and if installed would be a good teaching tool and a visible example of NU’s commitment to sustainability.
“We are a university and we should practice what we teach,” he said. “We have many efforts on campus toward sustainability, and solar electricity is the epitome of green energy.”
Jim McKinney, a project manager for Facilities Management, said that his office has only received a narrative explanation of the plan but added he would be willing to support the installation if provided with a more detailed construction plan.
“There is a lot of development to be done; we need to maintain the integrity of the building structure and the campus aesthetic,” McKinney said. “(A solar panel) is certainly something that could be approved. We are just looking for the right proposal.”
