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A new solar array, composed of 54 panels, is now providing power to the Arthur P. Girard Marine Science Center.

Charles Tilburg, Ph.D., director of the School of Marine Programs, says the array provides a starting point for cutting down the building's carbon footprint.

“I've always felt a little guilty that we study the ocean, but we inhabit one of the most energy intensive buildings on campus,” he said. “Eighty percent of all the heat in the atmosphere is absorbed by the ocean. Thirty percent of all the carbon dioxide that we emit into the atmosphere goes into the ocean. One of the reasons I'm so excited about this is that now we're both studying the ocean and protecting it.”

Jennifer Hatch of ReVision Energy, the company that installed the panels, says the array will generate enough energy to power two average size homes.

“It's going to produce about 18,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a year,” Hatch explained. “We expect it to offset anywhere from seven to ten percent of the Marine Science Center’s annual building use.”

The Left Coast Fund in San Diego, California, run by philanthropist Scott Borden, reached out to �Թϱ��� about providing funding for the array.

“They were soliciting proposals from across the country for on campus sustainability projects that involved students,” said Noah Perlut, Ph.D., associate professor and department chair in the Department of Environmental Studies. “That seemed pretty exciting to me. I helped put together a coalition of students, staff and faculty to work on this.”

The Left Coast Fund donated $25,000 towards the project. The rest of the funding came from �Թϱ���’s Undergraduate Student Government (USG) and Green Revolving Fund (GRF), an investment fund that finances energy efficiency projects on campus.

The USG donated $15,000, and the GRF gave $8,000.

“This is the kind of project that we need to put on a pedestal because it involved the whole �Թϱ��� community from the bottom up,” said Perlut.  “Students, faculty and staff came together to work on something with an outside donor, and we had a successful outcome in a pretty short period of time.”