A downtown panelist discussion covered sustainability issues in the year’s first installment of an ASU discussion series, focusing mostly on solar power’s potential effects on the economy.
The School of Public Affairs in the College of Public Programs kicked off its Coor Leadership Series with a “Financing Sustainability” forum. The panel of three discussed how to make the future more sustainable in a presentation Tuesday afternoon at the A.E. England Building.
The discussion featured Edward Fox, vice president and chief sustainability officer at Arizona Public Service Company, Govindasamy Tamizhmani, president of Tempe-based solar testing company TUV Rheinland PTL, and David Peterson, acting superintendent of Scottsdale Unified Schools.
Tamizhmani began the forum with an address on solar energy, stressing the need to focus more on the solar effort as an alternative energy resource.
Peterson agreed that solar energy is a good alternative source. Of the nearly $7 billion utility bill in the Scottsdale school system, 70 percent of it is for electricity alone, Peterson said. Solar energy could greatly reduce this burden.
“We live in the Persian Gulf of sunshine,” Peterson said. “Why aren’t we taking advantage of it?”
Fox agreed with Peterson and Tamizhmani, but said the reasons for sustainability are not solely those pertaining to the environment. He added that it was instead a mix of “environment, economics and equity and community.”
The sun will last for billions of years and solar technology only degrades by 0.5 percent per year, Tamizhmani said. In 40 years, it will still have 80 percent of its original power left.
Most people believe solar panels take up a lot of space to create mass amounts of power, Tamizhmani said, but solar panels could amass enough energy to power the entire United States with only 100 square miles of southwestern Arizona producing power.
The only problem with installing solar panels is consumer cost, but renewable energy as a whole presents more obstacles, Fox said.
“We would need a whole new set of policies in order to transfer over to the renewable energy,” Fox said.
Even if the switch to complete solar energy was made, a backup energy source would still be needed in case it failed, Fox added.
Caroline Addington, a former teacher and active member in sustainability groups, was excited about the forum and said downtown Phoenix was taking big steps toward becoming self-sustainable.
Peter Wellman, an employee at the Phoenix Public Market, said he was surprised by the initiative downtown Phoenix is taking regarding solar power, especially the efforts of ASU to collaborate with the community.
“I’m very happy to interact with the kids and see how ASU is helping,” he said.
Wellman said he is encouraged by the solar trend gaining traction in Phoenix and would love to see community members get involved in the trend.
“Civic involvement has waned the past 40 years and they must be part of this discussion,” he said.
Contact the reporter at amanda.ames@asu.edu
