APSU adds five solar picnic tables to campus

Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University is continuing its push to offer sustainable energy sources to the campus community with the recent installation of five solar picnic tables.

The tables, located in the Morgan University Center plaza, use solar panels attached to an umbrella canopy to generate 235 watts of electricity.

Students, faculty, staff or visitors can charge their devices, such as phones or laptops, by plugging them into the picnic tables.

The new tables, which were constructed from poly-recycled plastic materials, were purchased with money collected through the University’s sustainable campus fee.

The fee was developed in 2008 to fund green initiatives, such as recycling projects, energy and water conservation and the purchase of alternative fuel vehicles.

In recent years, APSU has also added solar panels at the APSU Environmental Education Center, installed Brita Hydration Stations to the residence halls and put in better irrigation systems for landscaping in certain areas of campus. Thanks to these efforts, the Clarksville-Montgomery County Green Certification Program certified APSU last year as a green member of the local community.

For more information on the new solar picnic tables or APSU’s green efforts, contact Dr. Kristen Spicer, APSU environmental, health and safety manager, at spicerk@apsu.edu.