Solar

With a carnival, movie and other events, this year’s Earth Day festivities are shaping up to be bigger, more fun and more educational than ever.

UC Merced’s annual celebration of the 45-year-old day of observance is always a big deal on this green campus. But this year, the new Earth Day Planning Committee has built on the popular annual recycling-themed carnival and tabling event to include a movie night, a poetry slam, sustainability initiatives proposed by students and more.

MERCED, Calif. — Research into sustainable water supplies and viable solar energy solutions won the University of California, Merced, an anticipated $5 million in prestigious and competitive grants from the University of California.

One of the world’s oldest civilizations – with the worst air pollution and the coldest capital city – will employ cutting-edge technology from the newest UC campus starting in February.

Professor Roland Winston, who leads the UC Merced-based UC Solar Institute, just returned from a trip to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s capital. He met with the owner of Mongolia National University, a 15-year-old institution with about 9,000 students, to discuss installing a solar-thermal unit on one of the campus buildings to generate 3 kilowatts of steam heat for a portion of the campus.

UC Merced is doubling down on its solar commitment.

The campus is looking at installing rooftop solar systems on up to 11 main campus buildings and the chancellor’s residence, moving the campus closer to meeting its Triple Zero commitment and saving money.

A request for proposals was issued in October, and campus planners and sustainability leaders will look at what vendors come up with before making any decisions.

Professor Roland Winston’s work has helped take UC Merced and UC Solar global – this time it’s to Singapore.

The small city-nation is experiencing a building boom, and developers have plans to use Winston’s designs for a solar collector to make concrete walls the source of building light.

Adapting technology that has become the standard in the automotive, aerospace and air-conditioning industries, Professor Gerardo Diaz has designed and is testing the next generation of solar-collecting units at UC Merced.

Just because it’s summertime doesn’t mean research at UC Merced comes to a halt.

Just the opposite.

This summer, professors and students at all levels are conducting a variety of research projects on campus, off campus, in the oceans and forests and around the world.

Up in Yosemite National Park, for example, nine undergraduate students are getting a summer experience to last them a lifetime, conducting research with faculty researchers from UC Merced, scientists from the U.S. Geologic Survey and from the park.

Sustainability being a campus hallmark, it’s no surprise the UC Merced campus takes Earth Day very seriously, even though the events planned are fun.

Each April 22, people around the country mark Earth Day, which began in 1970 and is seen by many as the start of the modern environmental movement.

As everyone knows, space is limited on the UC Merced campus.

But with a little money and a lot of persistence, Engineers for a Sustainable World has found a way to carve out a little room for a community garden.