When we installed nearly 100 photovoltaic panels on the rooftop of US Solar Institute’s Fort Lauderdale office, our goal was simple – to show the world how easy and affordable it was to harness free energy from the sun.

The results exceeded even our wildest dreams. 

These solar panels generate as many as 150 kilowatt-hours of clean energy – enough to cover all our electricity needs plus leftover capacity to power the equivalent of two average-sized homes.  Not only is our Fort Lauderdale campus the region’s very first 100% PV-powered college, but we’re also the first “Net Positive Energy Building” to hit downtown. 

What does that mean exactly? 

It means we consume less energy than we produce.  And the energy that we do consume (and produce) is all clean and green.

Doing the Right Thing – At a Profit

What do we do with this additional electricity?  We sell it back to Florida Power & Light at a profit.  It’s a win-win-win for everyone involved:

  • We’ve reduced our electricity bills to zero (negative in fact)
  • The utility company saves on fossil fuel expenses
  • The planet avoids having additional CO2 dumped into the atmosphere

Even you – reading this in Miami or New York or Tokyo – the air you’re breathing right now is slightly less polluted than it would have been had we never installed these solar PV panels on our rooftop. 

Quite literally, almost everyone is better off.  The only “losers” are those with a stake in dirtier forms of fuel.  And believe us – coal, oil, and gas stockholders don’t need our pity. 

Solar Is Easy.  Solar Works.  Solar Is Practical.

To be honest, we didn’t do this for bragging rights.  We didn’t even know we would be downtown’s first net positive energy building when we began installing solar panels on our rooftop.  As stated in the beginning, our goal was far simpler – to show that solar energy actually works.

We could have shown solar energy’s potential in other ways, but articles, podcasts, and speeches are not nearly as convincing as living examples.  Our lead instructor and President, Ray Johnson, probably said it best, “Too many solar training schools talk the talk but don’t actually walk the walk…. The best way to prove that solar works is to install it, use it, and let people see your monthly electricity bills.”

Oh, and yes – these panels also allow our students to practice assembling and disassembling PV systems as part of their solar installation training.  Yet another added benefit.