Sponsors, including the government, help pay for the University of Vermont's solar power project. This university project consists of 48 large solar panels that cover 500 square feet of roof on UVM's Cage Central Heating Plant; the largest of its kind in Vermont at the time of its construction. The solar panel is rated for 5,760 watts of direct current energy, which are then converted to an average of 19 kilowatt-hours per day. This amount of power is enough to power nine desktop computers for about 10 hours. At the University of Vermont, the power is fed into the Central Heating Plant to help meet the university's heating needs.
The University of Central Florida is located right in the heart of the sunshine state, and this makes it an ideal location for the Florida Solar Energy Center. The FSEC is a research institute under the control of the university and has provided valuable research and training in the fields of renewable energy and the practical applications of solar energy. The FSEC is also responsible for projects including the SunSmart Schools, which installs solar energy systems in selected Florida school buildings, and EnergyGauge, a software system designed to monitor and analyze the energy use and cost of a building.
Another sun-baked area of the United States, Austin houses the University of Texas Solar Energy Laboratory. The University of Texas in Austin mechanical engineering department oversees the laboratory, where engineering students emphasize the measurement of solar radiation at different parts of the state, while also experimenting with solar-powered water heaters, solar-powered vehicles and photovoltaic powered cooling systems.
Awarded a stimulus grant to explore the potential of solar energy, Maryland University is participating in Project Sunburst, which will install solar photovoltaic systems on each of its qualifying buildings. Although these panels will not be as substantial as those on the University of Vermont's central heating plant, they will be on many more buildings and will provide the university with about 5 percent annual energy consumption when completed.