The Luther College Sustainability House is a co-ed, two-story home located in a residential neighborhood near Preus Library on the eastern edge of campus. The Sustainability House offers a living-learning environment for students who share a dedication to an environmentally, socially, and fiscally sustainable lifestyle.  

The Sustainability House receives electricity from a 4 kilowatt (kW), pole-mounted solar array erected on a nearby parcel of land. The $22,000 system was installed in the summer of 2011 and paid for by a donor to Luther’s Sesquicentennial Fund initiative. It is the first solar photovoltaic (PV) array installed on the Luther campus.

The system was designed to generate all of the power the Sustainability House consumes over the course of a typical year. When the array produces more power than the house consumes, the surplus electricity powers neighboring homes. Luther receives full retail credit for this surplus power through Iowa’s net metering rule.

System Information:

• 3.78 kW (DC) pole-mounted PV array
• Installed August 2011
• Designed by Go Solar and installed by Luther facilities staff
• Eighteen 210-watt solar modules manufactured by Kyocera
• Fronius IG 4000 watt inverter
• Average annual production: 5,000 kWh