Conclusions

The Social Context section presented the broader contexts that shaped and affected our entire project. The ultimate driving force for this project is the looming threat of climate change. This global issue has put pressure on nations around the world to invest in renewable energy and put a focus back on the environment. As a result, a green movement across the country and colleges all around the United States are getting on board. With such a big emphasis being put on the environment, colleges want to make sure that they are providing their students with the tools and experiences to help the world. Lafayette College should aim to continue to be competitive in this regard, and visible renewable energy efforts on campus are sparse. With the implementation of solar panels on rooftops, Lafayette could bolster its attractiveness to prospective students while investing in renewable energy.

The Political/Policy Contextsection provided information on how the United States can better implement environmental policies throughout the nation by looking at the European Union as an example. For now, environmental activists and college campuses are the leaders of the country’s environmental movements. College campuses act as great model communities and have the potential to impact their local communities. In recent years, Lafayette has been making strides that display the college’s commitment to sustainability.  Through various student and faculty-lead organizations and initiatives, LaFarm, and the newly established Office of Sustainability, Lafayette is demonstrating their environmental awareness efforts. However, we feel that these initiatives are not well represented to students, both current and prospective. Therefore, implementing visible solar panels on campus would be a great way to prove and show Lafayette’s current efforts.

The Technical Analysis section displayed three main advantages of photovoltaic panels over solar thermal panels. Photovoltaic panels are economically more feasible, aesthetically pleasing and require little maintenance. The technical analysis defined south facing, visibility, load capacity and direct sunlight as the four criteria to rate locations. Skillman Library, Kirby Sports Center, and Buck Hall met all four criteria and therefore are the final recommendations for housing solar energy.

The Economic Analysis section concluded that the qualitative value that would come from implementing a solar system on campus offsets the extra cost Lafayette would incur from doing so. Our estimates were optimistic; however, they still show that it is possible to provide for over a tenth of Lafayette’s current energy use through solar energy. It also discussed the possibility of saving additional money if we were to engage in a power purchase agreement with a third party to get access to the tax incentives offered for solar energy systems.

Recommendation

After analyzing the four sections of this report: social, political/policy, economic, and technical, we have determined that Lafayette College should continue researching the feasibility of adding solar energy systems to campus, with a focus on the roofs of Kirby Sports Center, Skillman Library and Buck Hall as potential visible locations.

Moving Forward

We hope that the analysis and recommendations presented in this report will help the efforts of Lafayette’s Office of Sustainability in “greening Lafayette” to become a more sustainable environment. With this report, we hope that the Office of Sustainability will use it as a guide for implementing the use of solar panels on Lafayette’s campus. The figures that we came up with were estimates, where we looked at the best case scenario in most situations. Bringing professionals to campus to provide actual quotes of what it would cost Lafayette to install this type of system would help to make a more convincing case, backed with actual costs. This process would include determining which buildings are actually able to bear the load of photovoltaic panels, and figuring out exactly how much roof space is available on each of these buildings to host panels. With that information, a better estimate of how much energy the panels would be able to actually produce could be made. Exploring the possible grants and power purchase agreements would also go hand in hand with this. Future groups should look into whether it would be better for Lafayette to install solar panels on its own or use a third party provider to take advantage of potential tax benefits. This would require the school to obtain cost quotes from potential third-party PPA partners, alongside the quotes discussed above. If this were successful and implementing solar panels becomes a reality, the next step would be to determine which building exactly would be the best option to implement solar panels or if all of them would be a realistic expectation. Starting with one building and seeing how it plays out would also be an alternative. Costs per kWh would likely be negotiable depending on the size of the project and the vendor, which is why Lafayette should consider price quotes from multiple firms. From a political and social perspective, there is no argument to be made against implementing this type of system on campus. That is why the biggest step moving forward is to improve the precision and accuracy of the technical analysis, as well as convince the decision makers at the college that this project is economically worth while.

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