UAB Solar House and Sustainable Neighborhood

It’s finally Earth Month, and we’re going to be kicking things off with free-to-attend short film series following this year’s Sustainability fair!

We’ll be in room 204/206 of the Hill Student Center starting at 4pm on April 1st showcasing short films from Southern Exposure (and yes, there’s free popcorn).

Happy Earth Month — we hope to see you there!

I "wood" never miss out on Arbor Day! 🌳

See the post for ways you can participate in Alabama's Arbor Day celebration, beginning February 22nd!

The UAB Solar House makes all of the power that it uses. How exactly do we do that, though?

We use solar panels (28 of them, to be exact) to convert sunlight into electricity. Solar panels are made of photovoltaic (PV) cells that turn sunlight into direct current (DC) power.

1. Once our solar panels generate that DC energy, it is sent to our inverters. They 'invert' the DC energy into alternating current (AC) energy, which is the kind that we need to power the house.
2. Then, that AC energy is sent to our charge controllers.
3. The charge controllers make sure that our batteries (with a ~74 kW/h storage capacity!) are properly charged.
4. The Solar House draws power from those batteries!

The UAB Solar House makes all of the power that it uses. How exactly do we do that, though?

We use solar panels (28 of them, to be exact) to convert sunlight into electricity. Solar panels are made of photovoltaic (PV) cells that turn sunlight into direct current (DC) power.

1. Once our solar panels generate that DC energy, it is sent to our inverters. They ‘invert’ the DC energy into alternating current (AC) energy, which is the kind that we need to power the house.
2. Then, that AC energy is sent to our charge controllers.
3. The charge controllers make sure that our batteries (with a ~74 kW/h storage capacity!) are properly charged.
4. The Solar House draws power from those batteries!

What do our bees do all winter?

Fun fact: they're active even when we can't see them!

Over the winter, honeybees huddle together in their hives and vibrate their wings to create heat. Since there are no flowers for them to feed from, they eat stored honey until flowers bloom in the spring!

Did you know that some invertebrates use hollow stems to hibernate in through the winter?

When tidying up your garden this winter, consider leaving some of the dormant stems intact to create a winter pollinator hotel!

These pollinators will check out in the spring once temperatures warm-up again!

As we transition into fall, leaves will inevitably begin to pile up around deciduous trees. Did you know that the common practice of raking up and disposing of these leaves can be detrimental local ecosystems, especially when done over large areas?

🍁 Many critters call these leaves home during the fall months—not just bugs such as butterflies!—but turtles, chipmunks, toads, and more!
🍁 Birds need dead leaves to pad their nests.
🍁 Docile and non-poisonous rat snakes lay their eggs safely under layers of fallen leaves, and they're one of the best forms of natural pest control. As a bonus, they pose no threat to humans!
🍁 Many of these animals also feed on insects found within this leaf layer, and disrupting that layer can negatively impact every part of the nearby food chain.
🍁 Dead leaves also act as natural mulch, creating the perfect environment for healthy, earthworm-rich soil.

This fall, try leaving the leaves! It’s an easy way to care for the planet around you!

You've probably seen these dots on Heritage Hall this semester, but do you know what they're for?

Window collisions are the second leading cause of songbird mortality in the United States. By this time last year, 27 birds had collided with Heritage Hall.

Since the implementation of these dots, we are excited to announce that ZERO bird/window collisions have occurred during this migration season!

Thank you Alabama Sawyer for giving us oak sawdust!

Alabama Sawyer is a local business that uses fallen trees in the Birmingham area to make their products.

We reached out to them for oak sawdust to use in our new raised garden beds in the Community Gardens!

Mental Health Awareness Month is coming to an end, and we wanted to share our collaboration with Student Housing.

We collaborated with to celebrate the positive mental health benefits of horticulture.

We had a great time painting flower pots and making gardening/plant care more accessible to for our on campus students!

We had a great time at this year's ASES event—beautiful weather, awesome people, and a lovely day all-in-all! Thank you so much to all of those who participated in and attended the event. We couldn't have done it without you!

Missed the event? Check out these slides for some pictures of our festivities... And we hope to see you on the first Saturday in October next year!