September 9, 2005

Solar-covered parking system serves as model for other designs

No sensible person would voluntarily park on the top of a parking structure at ASU, particularly in the heat of summer.

Except for Structure 2.

Sure, you still have to climb down all the stairs – but now, at least, there is shade on the roof.

This spring, ASU’s Capital Programs Management Group installed a solar-covered parking system that helps produce light for the structure – and provides 44 shaded parking places on the roof.

“It lights up all the inner lights during the daytime, when electricity is the most expensive,” says Ray Tena, who serves as assistant director for engineering and design services at ASU’s Facilities Management Capital Programs.

The parking system, which won a Governor’s Award for Energy Efficiency this year, is the first solar project to be built on the Tempe campus. It will be a model for other solar projects, Tena says.

The handsome structure complements the parking garage so well that the casual observer might never guess that it houses a solar-energy project.

A closer inspection, however, reveals the photovoltaic (PV) laminates that are bonded to the top of the metal roof panels.

Only a few wires and electrical boxes indicate that this parking structure is different from the others.

The project cost was $350,000. Arizona Public Service gave ASU a rebate of $140,000, and with an estimated $16,900 in annual savings, the system will pay for itself in about 10 years.

Tena says Structure 2 was a pilot program, and he added that “we’re interested in doing more. We’d like to do PS 7, which has areas where we can put solar panels.”

Using solar energy was popular in the 1980s, but it was expensive and the materials “didn’t have the efficiency that they do now,” Tena says. “The new system is a laminate that just rolls on the roof. Adhesive holds it down. It’s about a quarter-inch thick, and you can walk on it. It should last for 20 years.”

The PS 2 solar panels are just part of a universitywide emphasis on sustainability – “meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs,” says David Brixen, acting director of the Capital Programs Management Group.

A University Operations Sustainability Committee, chaired by Lee Overmyer, deputy vice president for University Administration, meets regularly, and ASU has instituted numerous measures to conserve energy, reduce harmful emissions, and require that all new buildings be “green.”

These initiatives are in support of ASU President Michael Crow’s larger university sustainability program coordinated by Jim Buizer, executive director of the Office of Sustainability Initiatives and special adviser to the president.

Judith Smith, jps@asu.edu

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