The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) has found installed solar capacity at higher education facilities in the USA has increased by 450 percent in the last three years.
A new open-access database created by AASHE reveals other interesting trends in the nation’s higher education sector; which has been embracing solar power due to falling costs of components, increases in electricity prices and increased availability of financing options.
The collation of data has also revealed the on-campus solar installation market was worth over $300 million in the U.S. last year and made up 5.4 percent of the total 956 MW installed in the nation during 2010.
AASHE says the solar harvesting capacity installed on higher education campuses to date generates enough power to meet the electricity needs of 40,000 U.S. homes.
The Campus Solar Photovoltaic Installations database is designed to allow people to browse success stories at campuses and aims to help solar advocates at higher education institutions see details that can help in their own campus solar power projects.
At the time of writing, the database contained details of 368 solar photovoltaic installations on 271 campuses in 41 states and provinces; representing a total capacity of 125,214 kilowatts and an average capacity of 342 kilowatts of solar panels.
AASHE is a collective of member organization of colleges and universities and provides administrators, faculty, staff and students and the business that serve them with resources and a framework for demonstrating the value and competitive edge created by sustainability initiatives.
Some institutions in the Australian higher education sector have also been turning to solar power; with projects including a rooftop solar array at Monash University and a 1.2MW solar power system at the University of Queensland. With electricity prices skyrocketing in Australia and no end in sight to the price hikes, you can expect to see solar energy coming to a TAFE, college or university near you soon.
