SFA Gardens Lecture Series to feature solar energy representative

Tony Napolillo

NACOGDOCHES, Texas - SFA Gardens at Stephen F. Austin State University will host the monthly Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 8, in the Ina Brundrett Conservation Education Building at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center, 2900 Raguet St. in Nacogdoches.

Tony Napolillo from Green Mountain Energy Company will present "Why Solar is the Future of a Sustainable World."

Green Mountain is the nation's longest-serving renewable energy retailer, providing consumers, including Nacogdoches residents, with the choice for electricity plans backed by wind and solar. Through the company's Green Mountain Energy Sun Club, residential customers and supporters of solar energy have the opportunity to give back to nonprofit organizations through solar power projects.

Contributions from customers to the Sun Club help fund the purchase and installation of solar projects at deserving nonprofits each year. Since the program's founding in 2002, the Sun Club has donated more than $3 million to help install more than 700 kilowatts of solar power, which has the potential to avoid more than 1.2 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions each year.

Napolillo has managed the Sun Club since 2006, overseeing almost all of the program's 75 solar projects, including the newly installed solar array at the Ina Brundrett Conservation Education Building. He has 20 years of experience in the marketing and customer relations fields and has been with Green Mountain since 2003. He lives in Austin with his wife and three sons. His passion for the environment and communications are a natural fit for Green Mountain and the Lecture Series.

The Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series is held the second Thursday of each month at the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture's SFA Pineywoods Native Plant Center. A raffle for rare plants will be held after the program. The lecture is free and open to the public, but donations to the Theresa and Les Reeves lecture series fund always are appreciated.

Parking is available at the nearby Raguet Elementary School, 2428 Raguet St., with continual shuttle service to the Ina Brundrett Conservation Education Building.

For more information, call Elyce Rodewald at (936) 468-1832 or email sfagardens@sfasu.edu.