Individualized Learning Stories
Freshmen Powered
Austin Federa '13, Professor Jeff Clark, and Will Meadows '13
Will Meadows and Austin Federa wanted to make an impact and for the two freshmen with a passion for environmentalism, the time is now. Within days of meeting through the student organization Greenfire, Meadows and Federa decided the Lawrence campus needed to move beyond conserving energy to creating it.
“We have this LEED certified building (the Warch Campus Center), the Green Roots initiative and organic garden, but nothing in terms of clean energy production,” Federa said.
They approached Associate Professor of Geology Jeff Clark and decided on a project: solar panels. “My role was mainly that of a facilitator,” said Clark. “I pointed them to resources both on and off campus ... I provided some initial guidance, but they did most of the leg work.”
Installed on Earth Day, just 126 days into their freshman year at Lawrence, the 2.92-kilowatt (kW) unit is expected to generate approximately 3,700 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity a year.
In addition to reducing Lawrence’s electric bill, the panel will serve an educational purpose as well. Data from the solar collector will be live-streamed over the Internet and used in Lawrence environmental science, physics and chemistry classes.
According to Meadows, the new panels will reduce Lawrence’s carbon dioxide emissions by about three tons of carbon per year and will have a lifespan of about 30 years. Most important, “the project showed that we as students can take initiative and make things change on campus.” With the solar panels installed, Federa and Meadows are on to other environmental plans. The ultimate goal? “A carbon negative campus,” Meadows said.
