With the help of a Wal-Mart $1,000 donation, Lone Star College-CyFair will capture the sun’s energy to light the campus bridge at night this fall.

“The LSC-CyFair welding, machining and electronics departments, have been working together to build and place solar panels on the east side of the Barker Cypress campus which will store energy, recharge batteries and light the campus bridge water falls at night,” said Kristoffer Villarreal, welding professor.

Faculty and student concern for the environment has led to various environmentally-friendly efforts – such as paper, plastic and aluminum recycling across campus and replacement of Styrofoam in the food court as well as collecting of plastic bags in exchange for “green” bags to name a few.

Such efforts are typically coordinated through a campus Sustainability Committee and several student clubs such as the Environmental Club, Wildlife Society and Phi Theta Kappa. The campus committee’s purpose is to organize, plan and implement various sustainability-focused projects designed to enrich the LSC-CyFair community. The student group’s mission is to create and endorse activities that promote a better, healthier, environmentally-friendly campus and community.

“This solar panel project is one way to show our community that LSC-CyFair is leading the way in green technology,” said Villarreal, who expects the solar panels to be in place this November.

Faculty members joining Villarreal in this project are Richard Gilbert, Andrew Jones and Venancio Ybarra. Students involved with the fabrication of the solar panels are Patrick Kjellberg, Casey Woodman and Jeremy Watterson.

For information on the departments collaborating on this project or the college, go to LoneStar.edu.