California's Butte College Going Grid Positive with Solar Power

Butte College, which lies about 75 miles outside Sacramento, will be the first college in the nation to go grid positive -- that is, generate more electricity than it uses.

The college is achieving this amazing feat by operating 25,000 solar panels on its property that will generate 6.5 million kWh per year, enough to power 941 homes. The reduction in emissions from using renewable energy will be equal to taking 615 cars off the road.

The college will also benefit financially from the solar arrays, saving $50 million - $75 million in the first 15 years by getting rid of an electricity bill, getting paid for excess electricity and avoiding future electricity rate hikes. That number also accounts for project costs.

Butte has also put a lot of emphasis on efficiency and sustainability measures with several LEED certified buildings, a 75 percent recycling rate of waste materials and a large student transportation system.

via Butte College

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written by jcsr, July 02, 2011

Granted this a great achievement but I see no connection with solar panels and cars. Living close to a college I notice a massive amount of cars traveling back and forth with students attending varied classes during the day and into the night with hardly any attempts to curb this waste of oil.
There should be more credit given to students who obtain more online training than attending a certain college. Then you could compare cars to, well no cars.

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written by kathrine bocsh, July 02, 2011

615 cars off the road this superb and providing that much electricity to 941 homes , its really amazing , thanks

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written by Jacob Ballard, July 05, 2011

This a a good job of Butte taking advantage of the tax incentives that California offers for alternative energy. On top of that the college is gaining much positive publicity for being grid positive and providing clean power to the nearby area. Although it may not curb the waste of oil, it is a step in the right direction.

This is awesome!
written by Danielle, July 09, 2011

Congratulations to Butte College on such a great, eco-friendly initiative! This is the sort of plan that I think should be implemented much more often in sunny places like southern CA and the southwest of the US in general. And I know many people would counter that with, "well it's too expensive," but just look at this example. The college is actually going to make money off of this! There's really no excuse not to be green!

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California's Butte College Going Grid Positive with Solar Power

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