UCF’s main campus is a featured stop on a tour of residential and commercial sites from noon to 4 p.m. both days. The local tour was organized by the Florida Renewable Energy Association as part of the 20th Annual National Solar Tour conducted by its parent organization, the American Solar Energy Society.

On a national level, the tour exhibiting renewable energy technologies is the largest grassroots solar event in the country, with over 160,000 participants visiting 3,200 solar energy sites.

They’ll have plenty to see at UCF, said David Norvell, the university’s assistant vice president for sustainability initiatives.

Among the featured stops on the UCF campus are:

Solar power has become more economically feasible since the university installed the solar awning on the Engineering I building.

“Throughout this time, costs have gone from about $10 per watt in the early 2000s to 60 cents per watt now,” Norvell said. “It’s an incredible story about how technology has improved.”

Solar energy is one tool in UCF’s quest to be a greener campus. In 2007, UCF President John C. Hitt signed the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, making UCF one of the first to pledge to be climate neutral by 2050.

To achieve that goal, the university must have no net greenhouse gas emissions. There are interim goals, including a big one already underway: ensuring that by 2020, 15 percent of the energy used by UCF comes from renewable sources rather than fossil fuels.

“We’re reducing our emissions – that’s where this started,” Norvell said. “But now solar is a very economically viable source of energy. It’s great when those two things come together.”

The solar tour, which also includes several stops at homes in Orlando, is free and open to the public. The sites are the same on each day. Visit here for more information.

“I’ve always been interested in science,” Norvell said. “Even as a kid I was doing things out of the box, building things and trying to understand how things work and how to make things better and more efficient.”

That intellectual curiosity and an eye for conservation will serve Norvell well as the Ů��AV’s new – and first – assistant vice president for sustainability initiatives. The newly created position elevates UCF’s vow to have a greener campus.

“It shows UCF has reaffirmed the commitment for the sustainability initiatives we’ve been pursuing,” said Norvell, a 1993 alumnus who graduated with a mechanical engineering degree. “Our vision is to provide students with a campus environment that not only supports sustainability but becomes a leader in the industry.”

Norvell’s new job puts an increased focus on UCF’s sustainability goals. He has no shortage of work. In 2007, UCF President John C. Hitt signed the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, making UCF one of the first to pledge to be climate neutral by 2050.

To achieve that goal, the university must have no net greenhouse gas emissions. There are interim goals, including a big one already underway: ensuring that by 2020, 15 percent of the energy used by UCF comes from renewable sources rather than fossil fuels.

There are already some solar panels spread around campus, the largest of which – a 107-kilowatt installation – sits next to Garage B. But it will take a lot more to help meet the 2020 goal. The university has set aside about 40 acres east of the Robinson Observatory for construction of a solar farm.

It is Norvell’s job to keep that project and others on track.

He’s not new to UCF. Norvell came to the university in 2001 as energy manager, and in the past decade has served as director of sustainability and energy management, saving the university more than $14 million through energy-efficiency projects. For the past two years, Norvell has been assistant vice president of facilities.

Among the university’s other projects that Norvell has had a hand in is the construction of a natural gas-fueled power plant on the main campus. It’s been providing about a third of the campus’ electricity since its launch in late 2012, reducing UCF’s dependency on outside utilities that may use less-clean fuel. Ů��AV is considering building a similar plant to serve its planned downtown campus.

In addition, ��AV is constructing and planning several buildings with sustainable designs that are expected to earn LEED designation from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Norvell hopes to make the campus’ sustainability projects academically accessible to students who will be able to learn firsthand how they work – and offer input.

“There are so many passionate students out there,” Norvell said. “I want to get them very much involved in the workings of the university at all levels. I want to get their ideas. We want the campus to be a living laboratory for students.”