In 2018 ReVision installed 517 solar panels on the Fye and McLean research facilities at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Massachusetts - more solar power is planned in the future to bolster their cause. The two solar arrays are producing over 160,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity each year, offsetting roughly 170,000 lbs of carbon emissions annually. Harvesting the sun is a powerful way to align facility needs with their goal of a healthy, blue planet.
Stephanie Madsen, WHOI's Sustainability Coordinator, shared:
"For years, WHOI's Facilities Department has been interested in adding solar to our energy portfolio because of the environmental benefits and cost reductions. We have many scientists who research climate and ocean impacts, and how greenhouse gases contribute to rapid adverse changes, thus it's important for us to decrease our own use of fossil fuels. We are making progress via solar panel installation by walking the talk, so to speak."
Watch our video with Stephanie below:
Since its founding in 1930, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has been central in shaping the vision of interdisciplinary oceanography around the world. WHOI has a history of going far beyond the walls of their laboratories, aboard research ships that have pioneered technologies like seafloor mapping systems, and submersibles.
The human-occupied submersible Alvin - owned by the Navy and operated by WHOI - has taken generations of geologists, biologists, and chemists deep beneath the surface of the ocean since 1964, to observe processes and phenomenon firsthand that would be difficult or impossible to study otherwise. The ocean is a vast and challenging place to work, but knowledge about the ocean is crucial to life on a changing planet.
WHOI's research matters now more than ever. Their unparalleled breadth of experience and culture of innovation found an ally in ReVision's mission, as we are both in it for the long haul here to make positive change on our blue planet.
