New website tracks UT Arlington energy savings
Want to know what’s going on with the 1,638 photovoltaic panels atop UT Arlington’s Park North and Park Central parking garages? A new public website has the answer.
The site provides real-time data about the energy produced by the panels and graphics that explain the process. On Friday, for example, the panels had generated more than 464,000-kilowatt hours of electricity since they began operating on Sept. 27, 2011. That’s enough to power 2,659 60-watt light bulbs eight hours a day, for a year, according to the site.
Software provider Deck Monitoring runs the site, with cooperation from UT Arlington and Meridian Solar, the contractor on the solar project. To view the site, go to: http://live.deckmonitoring.com/?id=ut_arlington_parking_garage.
“I think people will be surprised at the amount of energy being generated. It’s impressive when you add up the numbers,” said Nick Schroeder, the UT Arlington facilities engineer who oversaw the solar project.
The solar panels gather enough to offset about 30 percent of the energy used by the mixed-use College Park development, which is set to open later this month.
UT Arlington’s College Park District garage is the largest carport installation of photovoltaic panels in Texas. It was paid for with the help of a $1.8 million grant from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.
The University also provided $368,000 for the project, money that will be recovered soon through an expected $390,000 rebate from Oncor, Schroeder said.
The solar installation is one of numerous energy-saving sustainability efforts going on at UT Arlington, a comprehensive research institution in the heart of North Texas.
Media contact: Traci Peterson, tpeterso@uta.edu, 817-272-9208
The University of Texas at Arlington, www.uta.edu
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