Brain, solar power team up in AzRISE
Our view: UA leadership in developing affordable solar energy options make sense
In smart communities, leaders look at their resources and figure out ways to capitalize on their strengths. The University of Arizona has done this by creating the Arizona Research Institute for Solar Energy. It's a good marriage between the intellectual power of the UA and an abundant Arizona asset — sunlight.
The UA created the institute —dubbed AzRISE — last summer, and, according to a UA news release, the Arizona Board of Regents approved designating $3.35 million for the program at its December meeting. The move makes official Arizona's commitment to research and development of solar energy.
It makes sense for the UA to concentrate on developing solar energy technology.
It's been decades since solar power was regarded as an oddity that appealed solely to enviros who want to live "off the grid." Homes in the suburbs sport solar panels on their roofs and high-end home builders promote their use of solar technology as a marketing advantage.
Tucson is in the right place —geographically, economically and intellectually — to take advantage of the growing awareness of serious environmental issues.
"Solar energy may be the one solution to provide additional energy to this population without significant water use and loss of air quality," said Joseph H. Simmons, AzRISE co-director and head of the UA's materials science and engineering department, in a news release.
One goal of AzRISE is to convert to solar energy on a large scale, and to do it affordably. A drawback of solar technology as it exists now is its cost — it's not affordable to many homeowners and takes too long to reap financial rewards from lower electricity bills.
But great discoveries in the labs of the UA won't make a difference to Tucson — or anyone else — if new technologies and methods can't be used by the general public.
AzRISE is supposed to help research that is patented at the UA get to market. This task is vital because without it, the entire effort could be in vain.
Solar energy is an economic opportunity for Tucson. We must be forward-thinking to take advantage of what could be an economic engine.
There is evidence that the groundwork is being laid. The Star's Becky Pallack reported earlier this month that the Pima County One-Stop Center will receive $40,000 in federal grant money to start an environmental technology job-training program.
The program will train 20 to 30 low-wage workers at their work sites in environmental-technology jobs. The goal is to increase their wages by $2 an hour.
Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities, Inc., the economic-development agency, tagged environmental technology as an industry Tucson is in a good position to develop.
Pima Community College has received a $200,000 federal grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to train people in a free, five-month environmental-technician program.
According to Pallack's story, about 50 students have completed or are enrolled in the training.
The creation of AzRISE puts Tucson on a good footing to develop a technology that is a natural fit for Arizona and a necessary advancement in environmental technology on a larger scale.
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