ASHLAND, Wis.-Twelve students enrolled in "Photovoltaic Installation," a

May term course at Northland College, are installing a solar electric

system at the home of Northland College President Karen I. Halbersleben.

The course, taught by Assistant Professor of Physics Scott Grinnell,

gives students hands-on experience with the assembly and installation of

photovoltaic systems. The students are installing twelve 175 watt solar

panels mounted on a pole and mast in the yard adjacent to the

president's house on Ellis Avenue. The array of panels is attached to a

sun-watt tracking system, a mechanism that automatically rotates the

panels from east to west as well as tilts them up and down to follow the

sun through the course of the day. Halbersleben is funding the project

with her personal finances with help from renewable energy grants

provided by the State of Wisconsin.

"This project serves two great purposes for our campus," says

Halbersleben. "First, it's a way we can give back to the community by

providing supplemental electricity and preventing carbon emissions and,

second, it gives our students the chance to experience new technology

firsthand, to work with systems that represent the future of this

industry. That kind of education gives our students the edge."

Together, the panels will produce about 3,300 kilowatt hours per year or

the equivalent of approximately $350 of electricity. By creating this

amount of energy through a sustainable energy source like solar power,

Halbersleben will be offsetting about 3.1 tons of carbon dioxide

annually. The system, which will often generate more electricity than

needed for the president's house, will be tied to the utility grid and

can help to provide power for other members of the neighborhood as well.

Northland College and its Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute are

located in Ashland, Wis., near the shores of Lake Superior. The College

has been recognized as one of the top colleges in the nation for science

and mathematics, as a model environmental campus for the Lake Superior

Basin, and as one of Wisconsin's true liberal arts colleges. Founded in

1892, Northland now enrolls 700 students from 41 states, Puerto Rico,

Canada, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Kenya, Honduras, Trinidad and

Tobago. For more information about Northland College and its Institute,

visit our website at www.northland.edu.

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