By Kalli Colacino
Managing Editor
The Signal met with President Kathryn Foster and Vice President Sharon Blanton over Zoom on Tuesday, Jan. 25 to discuss specific topics regarding the spring 2022 semester, including the solar project and campus parking.
The Solar Project
It was announced via email in late 2021 that the College would begin a campus-wide solar project which was set to begin during winter break and continue into the spring semester. This project is a Solar Power Purchase Agreement (SPPA) between the College and a developer, EZNERGY, according to a campus-wide email sent by Joseph Como, the project manager of design and construction at the College.
An SPPA is a financial arrangement between a third-party developer (EZ Energy) who owns and operates the system, while the customer (the College) agrees to site the system on its property and purchase the system’s electric output.
“This is not costing us a single penny,” Vice President Sharon Blanton said. “This is a special program that was provided through the state, so this external company is coming in and doing all of the installation, building everything out, doesn’t cost us anything, but then we get the full benefit of the energy that is generated from that solar array.”
The solar project will consist of solar arrays — a collection of solar panels that generate electricity as a system — on the roofs of four buildings: Brower Student Center, Packer Hall, Decker Hall and Armstrong Hall, as well as canopy-mounted arrays in parking lots 4 and 5.
“We’re estimating that it will save us about a million dollars a year on our energy costs,” Blanton said.
While the project will save the College money on energy costs, it will also reduce the College’s overall carbon footprint. The total system is estimated to save 1,917,882 tons of CO2 per year, according to the developer, EZNERGY.
“One of the ways we can be more sustainable is through alternative energy sources that are not based on fossil fuels, and you know, solar energy,” President Kathryn Foster said. “Climate change is something that curricularly and extracurricularly we have been pushing pretty hard in terms of climate justice. It’s part of a larger package of sustainability and we’re very excited about it.”
Parking
This solar project construction has closed lot 4 — which is a faculty parking lot — from Jan. 24 to March 18. Lot 5 will remain open while lot 4 is closed, but will close on March 21 until April 29. Lot 4 will open back up at 75% capacity on March 21, according to Luke Sacks, the head media relations officer at the College.
A diagram of lot closures that was sent to students in a campus-wide email by Como on Dec. 7 (Photo courtesy of Joseph Como).
“There aren't thousands of spaces in lot 4, but there are spaces available and other places throughout campus,” Blanton said. “So we've tried to make that really, really clear where those other spaces are and will continue to direct students to those spaces.”
While lot 5 is closed, commuter students can park in lots 6, 7 and the upper levels of lot 13 (Decker/Cromwell), where approximately 400 additional spots will be made available, according to an email by Scott Sferra, the executive director of student accounts.
For the time that lot 5 is closed, the College will not be ticketing if a student parks in what had previously been designated as a residential student parking space. This does not mean that all ticketing will be suspended. Violating parking laws such as parking in a fire zone, parking inappropriately in Campus Town and not having a valid parking decal can warrant ticketing, Blanton said.
“We have enough parking on campus. We just don't have it where everybody necessarily wants to park,” said Blanton. “We've run the numbers I don't know how many times and we are absolutely confident that there are enough spaces on campus.”
