Old Westbury, NY – New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) has received a 6KC award from the New York Solar Energy Industries Association (NYSEIA) for innovative solar carports that NYIT has designed and installed at its Long Island campuses.

NYIT implemented Long Island's first solar carport in July 2009 at its Central Islip site, and subsequently installed a second carport at its Old Westbury campus, as a part of its "One Spot, One Car, One Commute" solar plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (S-PHEV) project. The freestanding, four-car carport prototype has solar panels integrated into its structure, allowing the carport to shade parked vehicles while collecting energy from the sun and converting it into power to charge plug-in hybrid vehicles.

"NYSEIA has been a pioneer in solar initiatives in New York for many years, so this attention is quite an honor," said Daniel Rapka, project manager of the solar carport initiative and mechanical engineering lab instructor at NYIT.

NYSEIA's new 6KC award program recognized NYIT and other businesses and institutions that have participated in successful solar projects, as well as those individuals who contributed to solar initiatives throughout New York state. The awards, which are named for 6,000 degrees Celsius—the estimated temperature of the surface of the sun—were presented at the association's annual conference, "NY Solar Industries 2010: The Business of the Sun."

NYIT has been committed to environmental sustainability in research and in practice since as early as the 1970s, and has been continuously working toward reducing its carbon footprint on its New York campuses, as well as throughout each of its global campuses.

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About NYIT

New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) offers 90 degree programs, including undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees, in more than 50 fields of study, including architecture and design; arts and sciences; education; engineering and computing sciences; health professions; management; and osteopathic medicine. A non-profit independent, private institution of higher education, NYIT has 15,000 students attending campuses on Long Island and Manhattan, online, and at its global campuses. NYIT sponsors 11 NCAA Division II programs and one Division I team.

Led by President Edward Guiliano, NYIT is guided by its mission to provide career-oriented professional education, offer access to opportunity to all qualified students, and support applications-oriented research that benefits the larger world. To date, 85,000 graduates have received degrees from NYIT. For more information, visit nyit.edu.

Briana Samuels
Communications Specialist
516.686.1354