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Professor Rick Hazlett's students are working on a
solar rover to bring power -- and tea service -- to the
organic Farm. And a harvest festival is planned for the
fall.
By Mary Marvin
A new tearoom is scheduled to open on campus next fall. It
won’t have scones or cucumber sandwiches, but it will have
something most tearooms don’t have—
its own solar rover. Built by students as part of an
independent study class, the rover will make its home at the
organic Farm on south campus, where it will be used to power
a hot plate in the adobe dome’s “tearoom” and to supply
electricity for tools, lighting and sound equipment.
 Named for the Mars rovers that have been exploring the red
planet for the past decade, the Pomona solar rover is the
brainchild of Richard Hazlett, professor of geology and
environmental analysis, and Juan Araya, Farm technician.
“Five students will work with us this fall as part of an
independent study called ‘Inventing Solar Energy,’” says
Hazlett. “They’ll learn how solar power works and then
they’ll actually put together a portable power station.”
Anchored to a flat garden cart, the rover will be about the
size of an office desk and will be equipped with four solar
panels and storage cell batteries. It may also have a small
biodiesel generator that can produce fuel for
gasoline-powered equipment.
Although
the rover won’t be able to move on its own like its Martian
namesakes, it could be ported around campus to supply
electricity for the sound systems at graduation or a rock
music performance at Walker Beach.
Its main mission,
however, will be generating electricity on south campus as
part of a larger effort to make the Farm sustainable, says Hazlett. “There is so much that is already happening or in
the planning stages. This fall a student will do an
independent study in bio-intensive cultivation. The idea is
to maximize the amount of crop coming off a piece of
land—about 120 square feet—with little external input aside
from the seeds.” Other projects being discussed include a
pond that will filtrate with solar power and wind turbines
that can store electricity on site.
The Farm, which was started by students along the Wash
almost 10 years ago, now has an orchard of about 60 trees,
as well as plantings of perennial shrubs, berries, herbs,
flowers and annual vegetables. Last year, a section of land
near the dome became a part of the Environmental Analysis
Department, serving as a laboratory for the Farms and
Gardens course. “In essence, we’re building a
human-engineered ecosystem, which brings another dimension
to the department,” says Hazlett. “Just as with any of the
sciences, it’s important for students to get out there and
put theory into practice.”
In addition to efforts to increase sustainability, students
have continued to work on the dome, which will be used to
store tools and seeds and as a gathering place with a
reference library, exhibit space, and, of course, a
self-service tearoom. Bamboo furniture, made by students
during the summer, will supply seating inside the dome and
will replace the Farm’s rusting collection of outdoor
furniture. Many of these improvements will be on display at
the first annual Harvest Festival in late October, when the
rover will power up the lights for a schedule of events
ranging from bluegrass and apple dunking to pumpkin carving
and pie eating contests.
 “The
Farm is meant to be a facility that can serve a lot of
interests—from students who continue to plant their own
gardens to archeology classes that will be able come here
and use the reeds from the pond to make cordage in the same
way Native Americans did,” says Hazlett. “We’d like to see
more student art projects and maybe even a play staged here.
So on this little God’s green acre, there is a lot we can
do. I like to tell people, ‘You haven’t seen anything yet.’”
Read more about:
The Farm
Sustainability at Pomona:
Students take the lead
Green-friendly buildings
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