Expanding Oxy's Solar Endeavors

I continue to be excited with the progress that professor Snowden-Ift and the solar committee are making on this project. I just learned in class that there will be a campus wide briefing on Wednesday October 21st at 4:30-5:30. So please let your friends know about this meeting, and hopefully you can attend. Getting the word out to the greater Occidental Community is a huge part of this project and will be instrumental in rallying some support for the project. I do feel that the Occidental community is very concerned of the environmental issues we face in the world and will be very supportive of the project. President Vietch has also begun to talk with some of the surrounding community members about the project and this is also a very good sign.

As we begin to move into the phase where this plan is becoming a reality I believe that the Occidental community needs to put great effort into teaching people about benefits of solar power. Once constructed this array will be used as a teaching point for physics classes here at Oxy and local public schools public schools will be allowed to come and use the array to teach their students about solar. I also think it is very important that we outreach to the homeowner community and teach them why solar is important and how it can make their lives better. Outreach to both the community and local homeowners has been discussed and programs are in the making to make this outreach possible. However, outreach to other colleges, universities, large business, etc. about the benefits of installing solar arrays right now has not been discussed. Part of the rationale behind this whole project is that the cost of installing solar panels is at an all time low and the government subsidies are at an all time high, making the choice to go solar a no brainer. So why doesn't Occidental take a leadership role in the greater community and alert other large institutions to the benefits of crossing over to solar at this point in time? Part of me thinks that most colleges and universities probably are aware of the ability to install solar for very cheap and some institutions will find it feasible and do it and others may not take advantage of the situation. In which case our solar array may not be the biggest of any private college in the country for long, but in my opinion that really is unimportant. The other part of me says that maybe these larger institutions don't realize what a great deal installing solar would be at this time and may miss the opportunity. For institutions like these I believe that Occidental needs to be proactive in the greater community of private colleges and universities and show them what we are doing here, and in a sense spread the word about solar. I don't believe that Occidental is the type of institution that will let pride keep such a great secret from helping other institutions switch to more sustainable energy