COD looks at adding solar panels

It's not easy being green - nor is it cheap, as the College of DuPage is discovering.

In an effort to be good stewards of the environment, save some money, and perhaps most importantly, provide learning opportunities for students, trustees are looking at adding solar panels to the top of the Berg Instructional Center.

The Berg is undergoing an extensive renovation and receiving a building addition as part of the Glen Ellyn college's $300 million Facility Master Plan.

Architects presented two main proposals to trustees this week, but only one of those is likely to go back to the board as a recommendation, said Harold McAninch, COD's Interim President. It's the least costly of the two.

The first suggestion would put photovoltaic, or solar, panels over much of the building when it's renovated. Installing 120,000 square feet of panels would cost between $9.5 million and $10.9 million and mean an electrical savings of $150,000 to $230,00 annually. The payback in savings for the installation cost would take between 47 and 63 years.

Unfortunately, the panels need to be removed when roofs are replaced or resurfaced, generally around every 25 years, the college's architects explained.

A second plan would add 7,000 square feet of panels to the automotive building on the south side of the Berg building. That would cost between $410,000 and $460,000, resulting in an annual savings of $5,000 to $7,000. The payback in savings for the installation cost would take between 65 and 82 years.

However, the benefit of the smaller plan is that roof is accessible to students. So the panels could be used for teaching areas.

"Administratively, the smaller plan makes sense," McAninch told trustees.

From the perspective of a cost payback, though, it doesn't make sense, he admitted.

"The value as I see it," he said, "is for the educational program."