Here Comes the Sun: Renewable Energy Source Brings Dominguez Hills One Step Closer to a Green Campus

On the way to show off the solar panel installation located in Parking Lot 1, Randy Sharp’s electric cart stopped running. Although he was able to get a backup, the director of the campus’ Physical Plant was perplexed as to why a vehicle that had been recharged overnight would end up with a dead battery.

The irony of the uncharged cart was not lost on Sharp, but his confidence in the campus’ green energy initiatives—including the solar panels—did not waver.

The panels were installed on the California State University, Dominguez Hills campus in 2006 as part of a statewide program that offered free installation and maintenance of a photovoltaic system to any CSU campus interested in a renewable power source. They are located in Parking Lot 1, their awning-like assembly providing a de facto carport and shade in the late summer heat. Sharp points out the installation with pride, saying that the system is the largest among the other California State University campuses.

The photovoltaic system provides a quarter of the campus’ electricity, according to Sharp, Additionally, he said that solar energy will be considered for any new buildings on campus in the future. Although there are only modest immediate financial gains from using solar energy on campus, Sharp underscores the long-range plans to expand the system on campus, which will eventually result in monetary savings.

“If we continue with this, get a means to provide onsite storage or generation capability for night-time and cloudy days, and get more photo units added,” he says, “the long-term benefit is that eventually we won’t have an electric bill. Hopefully, the state will learn from this and someday we may have a cost-effective solar (-powered electrical) system. But it’s the right thing to do now, rather than using up earth’s resources. With luck, we’ll never run out of sunshine.”

Sharp is proud of all of the electricity-saving measures on campus, including emergency cell phone sites and stop signs that currently run on solar power, and more efficient lighting in the gym.

“We did a study of the gym and found that so many people used it late at night, that the lights were often left on all night,” he says. We already knew we had plenty of sunlight for daytime use if we could direct it to the gym interior, “So we put in a combination of new skylights and fluorescent lights that are on motion sensors and photo cells so that when people are gone, or there is enough daylight available, they turn themselves off. Also, the newer lights use less electricity and cut our usage down by half. Then we replaced the air handler units in the gymnasium with smaller ones in 2005, going from five twenty five horsepower motors down to six one horsepower motors. We’ve saved about 100,000 kilowatts per year with our new system and received a best practices award from the state because of the gymnasium.”

According to Sharp, the campus is gradually undergoing a reassessment of its energy efficiency.

“Over at the central plant, we’re doing a commissioning project, where we go around and check the heating and air conditioning for leaks in the duct work or badly running motors,” he says. “Engineers come in and go through every inch of the building and say, ‘This needs to work a little better.’ For instance, some motors run full speed all the time, so we put variable speed drives on those, to cut down on their electrical use.”

Mindful of the concern surrounding budgets, Sharp underscores the fact that energy-saving measures are available to college campuses for the asking.

“The gymnasium and Physical Plant upgrades didn’t cost a penny for the campus,” he says. “We’re in the process of doing this now in the Natural Science and Mathematics building, there are incentives for energy-saving out there. It makes everything we have already in the buildings work more efficiently.

“So we’re getting there. Give me another 25 years, and the campus will be completely green,” he laughs.

- Joanie Harmon