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UK engineering students using solar power to charge electronic devices

Solar umbrella and charger on UK's campus
Shane Tedder, UK Campus Sustainability Officer
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submitted photo
Solar umbrella and charger on UK's campus

A group at the University of Kentucky is working to provide solar powered charging stations on campus. The student led UK Energy Club has built partnerships that led to the installation of eight solar-powered umbrellas with device-charging capabilities on campus.

Shane Tedder is the campus sustainability officer at UK. He says the devices sit in a hole in the table that would normally house an umbrella.

“Then you could charge anything with a USB charging cord can be charged from them, they’ve become independent, shade providing, charging stations out on the campus.”

“Having the opportunity to see, on our campus we have a variety of fossil fueled powered utilities, we also have solar and geothermal installations. I think the more hands-on experiences we can provide for our students, the better we set them up for success.”

There are currently 11 of these stations on campus and Tedder hopes to have more by next spring.

 

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Stan Ingold is WEKU's News Director. He has worked in public broadcasting for 18 years, starting at Morehead State Public Radio before spending the past 10 years at Alabama Public Radio. Stan has been honored with numerous journalism awards for his public radio reporting.
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