Seizing energy from the rooftops


 

Thanks to nearly 300 solar panels installed on both buildings in mid-December, the sun’s rays hitting the roof on Cornell’s Human Ecology Building and Klarman Hall now produce energy.

More than 228 solar panels installed on the roof of the Human Ecology Building – a certified LEED Platinum structure – will produce about 70 kilowatts daily on sunny days. On the Arts Quad, the new Klarman Hall sports 64 solar roof panels, which will produce about 20 kilowatts daily at peak.

The colleges of Arts and Sciences and Human Ecology, plus Cornell Energy and Sustainability, worked together on the project – which will produce three times more energy than the original proposal.

Klarman Hall will seek LEED certification over the next year.

Developer Distributed Sun and Building Energy own and operate the arrays, and Cornell’s Utilities and Energy Management will purchase its electricity.

See real-time energy data use at Klarman Hall and the Human Ecology Building at the Cornell Building Dashboard and check out the Real Time Building Utility Use Data to see how much energy the solar panels produce.

-Blaine Friedlander