Juan Villa / The Collegian

People were seeing green as the third annual Fresno Solar Tour came to Fresno State.

The tour was held Saturday at the brand new Laval Energy and Water Incubator on Barstow and Chestnut avenues. The tour showcased alternative ways of producing energy, such as with photovoltaic displays that were set up by a number of companies to show how solar panels work.

Engineering professor Fareed Nader, who serves as director of the campus Solar Center, said that an example of a photovoltaic system on campus is the recently opened Lot V. The structure is the largest photovoltaic system on a college campus in the country. Lot V is expected to generate 20 percent of the university̢۪s energy.

Offline Independent Energy Systems, owned by Cynthia Loweburg and her husband, was just one of the companies that had a booth set up with pictures of homes and businesses that had solar panels installed by their company.

According to Loweburg, the most common form of solar power installation is a utility grid connected system, which is a number of solar panels tied together and connected to an inverter.

The solar panels that are connected to an inverter then convert the sun̢۪s energy into energy that can be used in homes and businesses. What makes this process so innovative is that the existing power being used from the alternating current, or AC, goes down, Loweburg said.

AC power is the most common form of energy in homes and is provided by companies like PG&E. Homes or businesses that use photovoltaic systems produce their own energy and are not using as much AC power that they normally would, therefore saving money.

“When you are producing more than you are using, then the meter goes backward,â€Â Loweburg said.

The state of California even offers an incentive for people switching to a photovoltaic system by not only giving a rebate, but also a $2,000 federal tax credit.

However, students wanting to go green or even save some money may not be able to install a photovoltaic system, either because they are renting or because they can̢۪t afford to install one.

Michael Gallagher, a solar energy consultant for Renewable Energy Concepts or REC Solar who was also at the solar tour, said that it is hard to determine an average cost of installing a system.

“Solar system size is determined by individual power usage, not the size of a home,â€Â Gallagher said.

Instead of spending money that many students don̢۪t have to install a solar panel system, there are other ways to cut the cost of energy bills. Regular light bulbs can be replaced by energy efficient light bulbs that also last longer. And, turning off lights is always an easy way to save money.