NOIRLab, a federally-funded U.S. facility that operates a handful of large ground-based observatories in Arizona, Chile and Hawaii, made a major announcement on Monday (Nov. 27) regarding its clean energy goals. According to officials with the organization, it is on track to halve all planet-warming carbon emissions associated with its operations by the end of 2027. This would be the consequence of NOIRLab making changes to its infrastructure and reducing staff air travel.
More specifically, new funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) will be used to install solar panels and batteries at the Gemini South Telescope in Chile, which makes up one half of the International Gemini Observatory managed by NOIRLab. The upcoming changes will see the telescope run solely on renewable energy by 2027, according to a statement by the organization. Solar panels that already surround the telescope currently provide about 28 percent of its power.
