
Virginia Tech recently received green energy upgrades in the form of solar panels installed on the top deck of a parking garage.
The school began construction on the solar panels in December 2011, installing a photovoltaic array on the garage after being approved at the Board of Visitors meeting on March 28 last year, the Collegiate Times reported.
The energy produced from the solar panels will create direct-current electricity for the school, according to the source. The 480 solar panels that were installed will produce an annual energy output of close to 136,000 kilowatt-hours, which is 13 percent of the estimated annual output of the parking facility.
“We are trying to do this in a couple phases so as to not take up too many parking spaces,” said Bo Frazier, the assistant manager of parking services. “We put up all the steel structures up on the top floor itself while there was no one here as to not disrupt parking as much as possible.”
Half of the top deck is currently closed while construction is completed on the solar panels, the Times reported. After the top half is finished, the bottom half will be closed for the same construction.
A YMCA in Virginia also plans to go green by installing solar panels, creating one of the largest thermal solar installations in the state.

