the UW Sustainability blog
This is a guest post from 10-year-old Sharda Shah, the daughter of Mauli Shah who works in UW Medicine’s IT Department. As they have been looking for projects at home, this Earth Month they found a solar cooker sitting unused in their shed and decided to try it out. Here are Sharda’s thoughts on using a solar cooker, and how it shows solar energy can be useful even at small scales.
This Earth Day, one green-minded club geared up for a big weekend of recycling clothes. For the first time ever, UW EcoReps partnered with Crossroads Trading Company for a fundraiser honoring Earth Day. Members of the local community were encouraged to stop by Crossroads' University Way and NE 43rd St location. If they sold an article of clothing and mentioned EcoReps, $5 was donated to the club's charity of choice.
Civil and Environmental Engineering students got hands-on experience with energy conservation and renewable energy this winter.
A class taught by assistant professor Amy Kim used a small solar-power installation on More Hall to power everyday office equipment, such as a computer and table lamp. The course looks at developing sustainability strategies for buildings which promote the health and wellness of the occupants.
Photos by Rosemary Reyes
The new Life Sciences Building under construction next to the Burke Gilman Trail features floor-to-ceiling windows all along the south side. The windows allow the sun to naturally light the space, but that sunlight also presents a problem.
In the summer, direct sunlight would overheat the building. Instead of relying on air conditioning, the team behind the building’s design found a unique solution.
The University of Washington is installing solar panels on three residence halls in partnership with Seattle City Light's Green Up program to support research on clean energy and smart grid technology.
Two sustainability-focused groups at the University of Washington, UW-Solar and the Green Greek Representative Program, are collaborating on a project that has sunny prospects and dazzling potential. Essentially, the two groups will be working together to determine opportunities for solar power in the UW Greek Community.
UW Solar's array of solar panels on top of Mercer Court has been generating energy since going online this April, and you can see exactly how much the panels are producing with a real-time visualization tool.