TodaySolar Scholars learn knowledge is power
College students and faculty gather for week-long event to promote sustainable energy
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Participants in the Solar Scholar conference at Dickinson College learn how solar panels are installed on Wednesday. Jason Malmont/The Sentinel
After a few days of speakers and discussions, college students and faculty members from central Pennsylvania put their sustainable energy knowledge to good use.
A hands-on demonstration of photovoltaic technology, or solar panels, headlined Wednesday’s portion of a week-long Solar Scholar conference at Dickinson College, sponsored by the Sustainable Energy Fund.
As an incentive to develop new technology for residential use, PPL Corp. has promised $15,000 for campuses that produce a solar energy system that produces at least three kilowatts of power.
Solar panels are among the devices the conference highlighted as sources of sustainable energy, which come from unlimited natural resources like sunlight or wind.
Assembling and wiring the panels was part of the Solar Scholars Program’s work to integrate renewable energy technology into higher education curriculums and campuses.
When students and faculty members go back to their respective colleges, they’ll be able to share what they learned at the farm.
The idea sharing has already begun, in fact.
Chatter at the conference included using the wind from passing cars on the road for energy, said Robert Finley, facility management specialist at Harrisburg Area Community College.
Finley was also inspired by Dickinson College’s reuse of materials from a building the campus no longer needed.
The exchange of ideas helps campuses to include new technologies in the initial building process rather than having to integrate them into existing ones, said Jon Hart, an instructor at the Pennsylvania College of Technology.
“It’s not all wind or all solar or all biotechnology. It’s got to be a bundling of all,” Hart said.
In general, young people are more open to sustainable energy then older people are, and that’s a good thing, SEF program manager William Routson said.
“It’s pretty simple,” he said. “(The program) is about the future of America and who’s going to take it there.”
The farm has been operating as part of the college since January 2007. It supplements the dining hall’s food and also serves as a learning opportunity for students of all fields.
Muhlenberg College junior Sara Imperiale, for example, found a lot she could connect with her field of political science in the program’s discussion of environmental law.
She is also the president of her college’s environmental activism team and she’s looking forward to bringing back some of the ideas she’s picked up here.
Muhlenberg College tends to be responsive to new ideas, Imperiale said.
Even if her college doesn’t end up getting one of the grants to put toward a sustainable system, she would like to build a single solar panel for demonstrations on campus.
