KENT -- Kent State has a lot to be proud of with their baseball team and another source of pride is on campus.
Construction of what is believed to be the largest solar project on any public university campus in Ohio.
On Wednesday, WKYC's Kris Pickel and WKYC Videographer Barry Wolf headed to Kent State to check out how this project will impact the environment.
For a solar project this huge, Kent State doesn't want to take valuable property so they went up.
Installation is well underway. More than 1,700 solar panels are on the roof of the field house.
Kent State officials say they preach sustainability. That's trying to leave the environment better than you found it.
The panels cover nearly an acre of space and will supply one-third of the power to both the field house and Dix Stadium next store.
Officials are off-setting 709,000 pounds of CO2 a year and that's as much as 70 automobiles taken off the road.
This is a $1.5 million project but Kent state doesn't have to pay for the equipment. Instead, they'll buy the energy generated at a reduced cost.
These panels will provide power year-round, even under a light coating of snow.
Kent State is hoping their solar project proves to be a guiding light for other schools to go green.
Sustainability is not going away. Renewable energy is only taking off and getting better every year, they say.
WKYC-TV