Jessie Robinson, the co-chair of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Renewable Energy Special Projects Committee, spoke with USI volunteer Lydia Odom about the recent solar panel installation on the roof of the UNC-CH Student Union. RESPC is a student organization that promotes renewable energy on campus.
United Solar Initiative: How long have you been involved with RESPC?
Jessie Robinson: I joined my freshman year, and I’ve been involved since then. I started out just on projects. … The next year, I was assigned a project to lead, and the year after I was leading several. And now, I’m a co-chair.
USI: Who or what organizations were key in making the solar panels on the Student Union happen?
Robinson: It was a big effort of those in RESPC and our advisors. The project came to us in the spring of 2013 and it just got finished, so we’ve had three cycles of co-chairs working on that project. … A lot of different parties have been working on it, along with members of the club and our advisors helping us get the logistics together.
We had done the solar thermal project on Morrison dorm, but that was in 2005. So we hadn’t done this in a while, and we weren’t at school when the last project happened. We kind of just figured stuff out as we went.
USI: What does it feel like now that it’s complete?
Robinson: It’s super cool. It just dawns on me sometimes, like, “Oh my gosh, we put panels on the Union!” And now we’re all super hype about getting more solar projects out there, like the one for the Friday Center we’re working on, and we have another one in the very beginning stages that we’re going to try to make happen. It’s an exciting time.
USI: Do you think students know that there are panels on the roof now? How do you plan on making people aware of that?
Robinson: I definitely think more know now than did. I think the ribbon-cutting ceremony really helped, and especially with it in the environmental newsletter and sending out press releases. I think people in the environmental community of UNC know that it’s there, and the hope is that the live feed in the Union showing the energy consumption of the solar panels will bring awareness to it also.
We do our best for any project to let students know what’s going on and who RESPC is, because most people haven’t heard of us. It’s a constant struggle to get the word out there, I mean everyone is trying to promo what they’re really passionate about, which is totally fair. But we’re like, “I don’t have time to think about that, I’m passionate about this.” But the ribbon-cutting was pretty neat because we haven’t done that for any other project, I don’t think. That helped increase awareness. And the live feed is going to be awesome.
USI: What’s your vision for the future projects RESPC will do?
Robinson: The Friday Center is replacing its roof, which is the perfect time to do solar projects because roofs may not be able to handle the weight of solar panels if we put them on an existing roof. Or, if the roof is going to be replaced in a couple of years, the solar panels would have to be taken off. So it’s a great opportunity to do the solar project, and it’s awesome that it’s happening.
USI: What do solar and sustainability mean for UNC?
Robinson: UNC has a carbon zero plan for 2050 and RESPC is helping us move toward that, but we alone will not make that happen. The hope is that RESPC can educate people about what renewable energy is and the importance of it. I think you hear so many conflicting ideas about it in the news, with all the politics and stuff, but we want to show students that, “This is what it looks like, and this is how it’s helping UNC, and this is why it’s important.” Because we’re reducing our energy consumption, which is not only saving the University money and you money, but it is also reducing emissions and the reliance on a non-renewable fuel source.
So, I guess that’s the energy education aspect of RESPC, which is one of our mandates: renewable energy, energy efficiency, and energy education. That’s a huge thing we consider when we do projects, which is why we have the live feed out there and the ribbon-cutting ceremony. We do whatever we can to show students that this is what is happening.
Article and photo by: Lydia Odom
