California's Butte College has a 928-acre wildlife refuge. It promotes ride shares. It uses goats for landscaping, and worms for composting. It has LEED-certifiable buildings. And now it's going off the grid — the first college in the country, the school claims, to be energy independent.
The school added 15,000 panels to its existing 10,000 for a total of 25,000 panels on the ground, on rooftops, and in covered parking areas. Together, they generate 4.55 MW of energy — more than the school needs for its own energy uses. That’s despite the fact that the school operates its own water system and sewage treatment facility, not to mention looking after 21,000 wired-in students.
