Harvard Athletics sports solar panels
Harvard College senior Justin Lanning had been running the stairs in Harvard Stadium since January, but it was early this spring when he noticed something different as he reached the top of the steps and took a quick rest before heading back down. Across a parking lot, on the roof of the Gordon Indoor Track and Tennis building, workers were beginning to install rooftop solar panels as part of what has become Harvard’s largest solar energy project. “I thought to myself, what a great idea,” said Lanning, who watched the project unfold “like a flip book” on a weekly basis as he trained for competitive races and triathlons. The renewable energy project was installed as part of Harvard’s commitment to sustainability and its goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent by 2016 (from a 2006 baseline). During the course of six weeks, a local construction crew installed 2,275 solar...