Kings College Goes Green With New Solar Panels

King’s College is now going green with the installation of 214 solar panels on the newly built Square residence hall. The new building takes the school’s eco-friendliness to another level as it was once a hotel before being converted to a gathering place for students as well as a new space for classrooms.

The new solar panels are expected to last the college around 25 years, which will result in a nice pay off for the school by way of a 20% reduction in the power bill. The Square is the first building on the King’s College campus to receive solar panels, but that won’t be the case for long as there are plans for more on the horizon.

The schools vice president of business affairs and chief financial officer, John Loyack, attributes the ability to afford the once costly solar panels, to the decreased cost of the installation over the years. The other major boost in the college’s ability to join the green movement was the generous donation of the panels themselves, which comes with a price tag of $160,000. The donation came from Panzitta Enterprises, Inc and is hopefully going to mean big changes for King’s College.

Loyack says, “I think there’s just a much higher awareness in college-age students these days about environmental sustainability.”

This statement rings true if the reaction of junior student and president of the King’s College Environmental and Outdoor Awareness Club, Angela Coco, is any indication. She says, “It’s definitely a step in the right direction. Hopefully it will kind of show the rest of the world they have to go that direction as well.”

The use of solar power on campus isn’t new by any means, but there is expected to be an expansion in this new means of powering buildings and reducing the carbon footprint of colleges and universities.