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Photo of installation of the new Mountain Challenge solar array on the MC campus
Technicians from Solar Alliance Southeast work to install the new Mountain Challenge solar array at Crawford House.

Maryville College’s Mountain Challenge cuts ribbon on new solar array Sept. 27

Sept. 20, 2024

Solar plus storage is adding another level of sustainability to the LEED Gold-certified Crawford House facility on the Maryville College campus. The headquarters for Mountain Challenge, LLC, and Fit.Green.Happy.® programs, Crawford House is adding a new solar array plus battery storage, enabling it to fully operate with clean, renewable energy.

To mark this latest achievement in campus sustainability, the College is planning a short ribbon-cutting ceremony, scheduled for 3 p.m., Friday, Sept. 27, at Crawford House. Speakers will include Emily Guillaume ’15, part owner of Mountain Challenge and donor for the solar plus storage technology project, Maryville College President Dr. Bryan F. Coker, and General Manager U.S. for Solar Alliance Jon Hamilton. Representatives from Solar Alliance Southeast, the Knoxville-based company that designed and installed the system on campus, also will be present to explain this latest technology and answer questions.

Earlier this month, Solar Alliance Southeast added to a legacy solar array that has been in place at Crawford House since 2013. The new array is 4.8 kilowatts (kW) DC, with an 18-kilowatt-hour (kWh) battery for energy storage. When solar production exceeds consumption, excess energy can be stored for use at night or during overcast weather conditions.

The new photovoltaic (PV) system produces enough solar energy annually to offset 2.8 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. This is equivalent to:

  • carbon sequestered by 46 tree seedlings over a decade,
  • or emissions from 7,119 miles driven annually by gas-powered auto,
  • or emissions from burning 3,068 pounds of coal,
  • or emissions from charging 183,768 smartphones.

“Energy efficiency and regenerative environmental work are good business and good education – especially in the long run,” said Bruce Guillaume, founder of Mountain Challenge and its Fit.Green.Happy.® non-profit. “But this does not let us off the hook, either. We have to operate the building efficiently. It does no good to have a car that gets great gas mileage that is driven and maintained poorly.”

Guillaume explained that energy efficiency will need to be monitored regularly to ensure that the renewable energy is being produced and utilized correctly.

Crawford House already boasts energy-efficient custom storm windows, a solar water heater, soy-based foam insulation, healthy ventilation, and a front porch made from recycled plastic bottles, which have all contributed to its LEED Gold status. In 2022, Mountain Challenge achieved carbon neutrality by calculating and paying the carbon offsets needed, considering Crawford House’s energy production and energy consumption. With the additional array and storage, production and consumption can now be balanced.

“We’re stepping up our game related to our commitment to renewable energy with this [solar plus storage technology project],” said Mountain Challenge Director Tyson Murphy ’03.

As an on-campus outdoor adventure and team-building company, Mountain Challenge has, for 37 years, promoted wellness and resiliency among student and corporate clients. With the addition of the Fit.Green.Happy.® initiative in 2016, efforts now include combining outdoor programs and environmental stewardship for the benefits of mental and physical health.

“Getting people outside, active, engaged with the natural world, hopefully showing them something about the natural world that they fall in love with will help them work toward being great stewards and great protectors of that space or natural area,” Murphy added.

Solar Alliance Sales Director Tom Talmage thanked Mountain Challenge and Maryville College for the opportunity to introduce the benefits of solar technology to a wider population.

“This small-scale project our Solar Alliance team designed shows how others could use solar plus storage technology to harness renewable energy on an even larger scale,” he said. “Just like Mountain Challenge, we want to show what is possible, and we believe this project will have a positive impact on college students and the community.”

For more information about Maryville College contact karen.eldridge@maryvillecollege.edu.

For more information about this Solar+Storage project, contact abrock@solaralliance.com.

Maryville College is a nationally-ranked institution of higher learning and one of America’s oldest colleges. For more than 200 years we’ve educated students to be giving citizens and gifted leaders, to study everything, so that they are prepared for anything — to address any problem, engage with any audience and launch successful careers right away. Located in Maryville, Tennessee, between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the city of Knoxville, Maryville College offers nearly 1,200  students from around the world both the beauty of a rural setting and the advantages of an urban center, as well as more than 60 majors, seven pre-professional programs and career preparation from their first day on campus to their last. Today, our 10,000 alumni are living life strong of mind and brave of heart and are prepared, in the words of our Presbyterian founder, to “do good on the largest possible scale.”