ºìÐÓÊÓƵ's Field House 463-kilowatt solar array is one of the sites on the 12th Annual Green Energy Ohio Tour on Oct. 3, 4 and 5. The statewide tour, part of the American Solar Energy Society National Solar Tour, is free and open to the public. Visitors can park in the Field House parking lot.
ºìÐÓÊÓƵ State staff will be at the Field House to answer questions and to explain the project. On Friday, OcL 3, from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., Robert Mlsbrener, project manager II in the Office of the University Architect, wlll be on site. Leah Graham, outreach recycllng coordinator in ºìÐÓÊÓƵ State's Sustainability Office, will be on site on Saturday, 0cl 4, and Sunday, Oct. 5, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
The Field House solar airay is made up of 1,716 solar panels, covering about an acre of the Field House roof. This installation was belleved to be the largest root-mounted system among Ohio's public universities when it was completed in 2012. The solar array generates about 500,000 kilowatt hours of clean electricity per year, about one third of the annual consumption of the Field House and Dix Stadium.
Since its completion, the solar array has produced 1,061,042 kllowatt hours of electrlclty, equlvalent to avoiding the carbon dioxide emissions of785,867 pounds of coal burned, according to the U.S. EPA Greenhouse Gas Emissions Calculator.
"To achieve sustainability, we all need to cooperate and collaborate," says Melania Knowles, sustainability manager in ºìÐÓÊÓƵ State's Office of Sustainability. "This is an opportunity for ºìÐÓÊÓƵ state to share our experience with this project to inform others' decisions about renewable energy."
According to Green Energy Ohio, nine guided tours are available in Akron, Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Ober1In, Spr1ngfleld, Urbana and In Paulding County at the Timber Road Wind Farm. More than 160 open houses at over 100 tour sites are registered for1he three days of1he Green Energy Ohio 121h statewide tour event stretching across 31 counties.
The Green Energy Ohio website states that the tour "provides a unique opportunity for people to visit and talk wi1h owners living and working with dean energy technologies.
There are more than 90 locations on the tour.
By Katie Smith