Students propose solar panels on campus

by Mark Johnson

One academic showcase group proposed solar panels to help reduce carbon emissions on campus. 

The Sequential Topics and Climate Change proposal included cutting down 3.77 hectares of trees and replacing them with solar panels. 

One of the students’ tasks was to determine if replacing the trees with solar panels would reduce the school’s carbon emissions.

Junior Sebastian Amico said in a zoom interview, “Our findings show that replacing the trees with solar panels should reduce carbon emissions a significant amount.”

Another task the students had was to determine how much energy the solar panels can produce for the school.

Junior Tristan Burlingame said in an in-person interview, “Installing the solar panels could produce up to 60% of the campus’s power and reduce natural gas and oil usage.” 

Burlingame said, “It would take the school about 10-15 years to see a return on their investment which is good considering the life expectancy of the solar panels.”

The group’s findings concluded that the installation of the solar panels far outweighs the effects of removing the trees from the designated area.

photo (bar graph of Co2 emissions from tree removal and solar panel installation)