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Harper Hall energizes with solar power |
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Thursday, 31 January 2008 |
by ERICA DURHAM
News Reporter
Katherine Harper Hall will soon use its technical capabilities for more than just teaching students.
Harper Hall will be the first building on campus to use sustainable electricity.
“We are installing photovoltaic systems using solar energy to produce energy,” industrial technology graduate student George “Ged” Moody said. “We collect the energy from the sun, put it through some devices and connect it directly to the electricity [in the building].”
The campus Renewable Energy Initiative (REI) is a student organization that collects $5 a semester
from student fees. The $5 goes into a fund to build sustainable energy on campus.
 Adjunct faculty George Moody (l), industrial technology graduates Matthew R. Fedorko and Stoney Oswald (r) stand behind the solar panels for the new photovoltaic system atop the roof of Kerr Scott Hall Monday. The department of technology donated the solar panels for the project. Photo by Derek DeSha
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“This project was funded and managed by REI,” Moody said. “The project should be up and running in the next two weeks.”
Technology professor Dr. Dennis Scanlin said the department of technology paid for the solar panels
and donated them to REI for the solar project.
The cost of sustainable electricity systems can range from $12,000 to millions of dollars, Moody said.
“It depends on the size of the system,” Moody said. “A 1.5 kilowatt system [which is the one being
placed in Harper Hall] is around $12,000 to $15,000.”
“A 1.5 kilowatt system is not a whole lot,” said Matthew R. Fedorko, an industrial technology graduate
student. “It would take a chunk out of the average home but for a building it is nothing. It is for
educational purposes. It is not intending to power the entire building.”
The system in Harper Hall has eight evergreen solar panels on the roof, he said.
“Students came and installed them. We had a pretty good time and it was a learning experience,”
Fedorko said.
The department of technology was interested in having solar panels on its roof because of the
undergraduate building science program.
“We wanted to have a system students could look at,” Scanlin said.
Moody said currently in this area, most electricity comes from coal.
“The downsides to coal are that there is only a finite amount of coal and one day it will be gone,”
Moody said.
Other effects of coal burning for electricity includes mountain top removal, smog, and negative effects
on the environment, he said.
“The sun shines everyday. There are no emissions and it is a renewable resource,” Moody said.
Moody said REI is looking into putting a similar system into the Raley Hall. Other possible projects
include putting a windmill on campus and a much larger sustainable electricity system in Raley Hall.
“Overtime there will be more and more. As long as the REI keeps collecting money, we will work on
sustainable electricity,” Moody said.
Students were asked last spring to vote for the REI to be renewed for another three years.
“A 92 percent majority voted for REI. More voted for REI than the total votes for SGA,” Moody said.
“The Appalachian State University student community said, ‘sure take another $5 from me.’”
Students can get involved with the Renewable Energy Initiative on campus by visiting
www.rei.appstate.edu.
“I am really happy to see [Appalachian] support renewable energy,” Scanlin said. “The South has been
the slowest to adopt renewable energy, and projects at universities can demonstrate that they really do
work.”
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