Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


Mission College Goes Solar To Save 8.5 Million

Mission College in Santa Clara, CA has completed a solar system designed to save the school approximately $8.5 million in electricity costs over 25 years.

The 1.1-megawatt system was installed as a parking lot canopy structure covering 1.5 acres and will provide approximately one third of the college's energy. Built by Gilbane, the project includes 2,640 high-efficiency solar panels manufactured by SunPower, and "will generate up to 50 percent more energy for the college than a similarly-sized system with conventional solar panels," according to information released by SunPower.

"The SunPower installation will greatly reduce our campus' operating expenses, allowing the College to direct precious general fund dollars toward academic programs, supplies, and teachers," said Mission College President Laurel Jones. "We are excited to be a model of sustainability for our student body and local community by introducing sustainable practices throughout our campus, including the new solar power system, development of clean tech curriculum, and construction of LEED-designed, energy-efficient buildings."

Mission College is a community college in California's West Valley-Mission Community College District. The school serves nearly 10,000 students in 70 different programs. The other school in the district, West Valley College, completed a similar project in October. The 1.1 MW West Valley installation will save the school approximately $9 million over 25 years, according to information released by the school.

Visit missioncollege.org for more information about Mission College. More information about SunPower is available at us.sunpowercorp.com.

About the Author

Joshua Bolkan is contributing editor for Campus Technology, THE Journal and STEAM Universe. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • globe surrounded by network connections

    AI Adoption Is Surging, but Infrastructure and Language Gaps Persist

    Artificial intelligence may be spreading faster than previous waves of consumer tech, but a report from Microsoft's AI Economy Institute suggests its benefits are concentrating in a relatively small set of countries, with infrastructure and language emerging as major dividing lines.

  • Interconnected Light Particles in Vibrant Streams

    Rubrik Agent Cloud Expands Policy Controls for Agent Prompts/Responses

    Rubrik has made Rubrik Agent Cloud generally available, adding expanded governance controls that enforce predefined and custom policies on both AI agent prompts and responses.

  • large group of college students sitting on an academic quad

    Student Readiness: Learning to Learn

    Melissa Loble, Instructure's chief academic officer, recommends a focus on 'readiness' as a broader concept as we try to understand how to build meaningful education experiences that can form a bridge from the university to the workplace. Here, we ask Loble what readiness is and how to offer students the ability to 'learn to learn'.

  • human hand in a business suit and a robot hand touching a glowing digital circle

    Purdue-Google Partnership to Advance AI-Enabled Education and Research

    In a move aimed at empowering the Purdue community to integrate AI across multiple facets of the institution, Purdue University has announced a strategic partnership with Google Public Sector.