ASU to start rooftop solar project

ASU plans to begin installing solar panels on about 135,000 square feet of rooftop in August, about a third of that available on university buildings. They will provide 2 megawatts of electricity to the university grid - about 7 percent of the school's energy needs.

That's enough to power 4,600 computers and reduce ASU's carbon emissions by 2,825 tons per year.

"We have a tremendous number of buildings that have flat roofs. It's an ideal place to put these things," says Jonathan Fink, director of ASU's Global Institute of Sustainability.

Fink says the project is part of a larger plan to cut the school's energy use by installing more insulation, renovating cooling and heating systems, planting shade trees and adding other features to buildings to make them more energy efficient.