It might seem odd that an institution with a proud tradition of throwing toilet paper would be distinguished for environmental friendliness, but Auburn University was recently praised for its solar panels.
Auburn was one of the 40 institutions included in the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education's 2012 Sustainability Review.
The partnership between Facilities Management and the Office of Sustainability, which produced solar panels for the stadium parking deck, were the subject of the profile.
"The panels offset the charging of the golf carts on the bottom floor," said Jennifer Morse, communication and outreach coordinator for the University Office of Sustainability.
There are 10 stations used to charge golf carts and vehicles used by University departments on the ground floor of the parking deck.
Morse said the solar panels do not provide electricity directly to the vehicles, but provide roughly the equivalent amount of energy used by the charging stations to Auburn's power grid.
Ray Kirby, electrical engineer in facilities management, said there are two sections of 3.3 kilowatt solar panels on the parking deck.
"That means during peak sunlight hours, about five hours per day, those panels can produce 6.6 KW of power," Kirby said.
In total, there are 24 solar panels on top of the parking deck.
Morse said the idea for the solar panels came during a brainstorming session for a highly visible project between the Office of Sustainability and facilities management.
"Something about the solar panels with Jordan-Hare in the background seemed like a great idea," Morse said. "It's a powerful image."
Morse said while the solar panels are a high-profile project, the Office of Sustainability is also involved with other on-campus projects.
"We have another demo project we're doing," Morse said. "We're doing a rain-gathering project over at the Dudley shop roof.
Morse said projects such as these, and overall efforts toward sustainability, resulted and will continue to result in Auburn receiving recognition from organizations such as the AASHE Sustainability Review.
AASHE also has a Sustainability Tracking and Rating System that evaluates an institution's sustainability efforts.
"We did the STARS assessment last year," Morse said. "We got a silver star."
Morse said the University is aiming for a gold star rating this year.
"We're working for it, but we don't really care about a score or a ranking," Morse said. "We want the results in sustainability that those sorts of things represent."
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