Hartnell's Alisal Campus a Model of Sustainability

Salinas Californian

While Hartnell College is unveiling its new solar array atop a parking canopy this morning at its Alisal campus, the real illumination is happening inside the campus.

The solar project, coupled with structural energy efficiency improvements, is expected to reduce the Alisal campus' electricity use by 93 percent, said Paul Johnson, Chevron energy Solution's senior project director on the Hartnell solar project. That's about as close to net zero energy consumption as current technology affords. Chevron Energy Solutions built the $2.58 million project.

All told, it will save the college $6 million over the 25-year lifespan of the canopy, Johnson said.

But the project has dual goals. In addition to the cost savings, the project created a wealth of opportunity for the advanced technology focus of the Alisal campus. Andy Newton, director of Hartnell's Science & Math Institute, said students from Hartnell's STEM Internship Program -- science, technology, engineering and mathematics -- are conducting research on sustainable energy via five different projects.

"The solar canopy serves as an enhancement to those programs," Newton said.

There are 110 students enrolled in the internship program, and are serving their internships at a number of institutions, including the University of California, Santa Cruz and the Navel Postgraduate School. The 21 students at the Hartnell Alisal campus are part of the Sustainable Energy and Sustainable Design program.

For example, using the solar array as a foundation, one group of students on Thursday worked on a cooling system for solar panels that would be automatically activated from sensors. Ironically, solar panels do not operate at peak efficiency when it is hot, since electrical conductivity decreases as temperatures rise. The best days for generating solar power are sunny and cool.

Chevron project engineers will be coming to the Alisal campus to explain the process involved in designing a solar canopy.

The subgroup of students that comprise the Sustainable Energy and Design program are a combination of Hartnell and regional high school students, including one from King City and a couple of 15-year-old students who are excelling in STEM studies.

One of the mentors is Hartnell alum Juan Ledesma, who grew up in east Salinas and is the first in his family to graduate from college. Having earned a bachelor's degree in applied physics from UCSC, he will attend the University of Wisconsin, Madison where he will work on his doctorate degree in medical physics. He ultimately wants to make a big contribution toward making history in cancer research.

Like Ledesma, the program itself has loft goals. The money for the internship program comes from multiple sources, including the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education, as part of President Barack Obama's stimulus package that tarted STEM education for Latino students.

"We have a crisis in keeping up with our STEM workforce needs," Newton said. "And people of color are going to be the next wave of that workforce."

Another project, headed up by project manager Jessica Landa, a Salinas High School graduate and currently a Hartnell student who plans to transfer to UCSC to pursue a PhD in electrical engineering, is dubbed the "cube house." It is being designed by program interns and being built by students from Hartnell's Sustainable Design and Construction program.

Landa explained that the model residence will feature energy-saving components such as windows built with internal blinds that contain photovoltaic cells. So in addition to having double energy-efficient glass panes, the windows themselves will produce power.

The entire design of the house represents a social shift away from unnecessarily large residences that only drain resources, and toward sustainable homes with a goal of net-zero energy consumption, Landa said.

Thursday morning she showed off the fully functional but tiny house -- 100 square feet -- that will include a pull-down ladder to a second-floor sleeping loft. Landa and her student team condusted an energy audit and learned that the minimum output from solar collectors is sufficient to meet the maximum demands of all the appliances in the home.

The house is being constructed with sustainable bamboo wood and will be "super insulated" so that no heating or air conditioning will be needed.

"This is my baby, " she said.

Dennis L. Taylor writes about science for The Californian.

Solar Canopy Dedication

When: 10 a.m. today

Where: Hartnell College's Alisal campus, 1752 E. Alisal St, Salinas