NEWS RELEASE
For information: Lydia Fulton, University of Washington undergraduate
e-mail: fultol@uw.edu, phone: (360) 339-3360
Sunni Wissmer, University of Washington undergraduate
e-mail: sjwissmer@gmail.com, phone:
Stefanie Young, University of Washington, PhD Urban Planning and Design
e-mail: stefanie.r.young@gmail.com, phone:
INSTALLATION OF SOLAR ARRAY ON
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON DORM
SPEARHEADED BY STUDENTS
Project hopes to inspire
other solar projects
SEATTLE, WA, MARCH 2014: The University of Washington’s residence halls will be getting a new earth-friendly addition, a 35 kilowatt solar array. This solar array will consist of 128 modules and has the capacity to power between two and three family households for an entire year. The array will make Mercer Court LEED Gold certified. The project was done by UW Solar, a University of Washington student group.
FRIDAY, APRIL 4TH, 2014: Denis Hayes, founder of Earth Day and president of the Bullitt Foundation, will be the keynote speaker at an event celebrating the completion of the solar array. It is hosted by UW Solar and UW’s Housing and Food Services. The event will be held from 3-5 PM at Mercer Court A, 3925 Adams Ln NE, Seattle, Washington 98105.
ABOUT UW SOLAR: This solar array is an addition spearheaded by UW Solar, a student group that has received several grants to fund the solar array and to fund programs and equipment to record the performance of the system. The grants were provided by UW’s Campus Sustainability Fund (CSF), UW’s Housing and Food Services (HFS), and the Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF). The project was contracted to Artisan Electric.
The team is multidisciplinary, consisting of undergraduates, graduates, and a PhD student, who range in background from the College of Built Environments to the Evans School of Public Affairs, the Department of Electrical Engineering, and the Department of Computer Science. It is a student led effort that is committed to proving that solar in the rainy city can work, and it is an effort to create a solar infrastructure system done by people who are not in the solar industry.
UW Solar has produced a study outlining the feasibility of their project. Soon, a study describing the process they went through to create the array will be uploaded to their website (http://uwsolar.wordpress.com/). Its intent is to be used as a resource for other groups or individuals who wish to start their own solar project in the future.
