The Bee Research Facility requests funding to construct a Sustainable Auxiliary Building enabling expansion of a cutting-edge research system able to study the 4 P’s in unprecedented level of detail. Overwintering colonies indoors will increase colony survival and the sustainability of campus resources, and provide further research opportunities. The proposed Sustainable Auxiliary Building (~12’x30’) on the Bee Research Facility property would be tied into the university electrical grid and have a 5kW rooftop solar array. The 360 sq ft roof of the building would be constructed to maximize solar exposure and the array would generate up to 6,000 kWh of energy and approximately $475 annual savings.

The building would have energy-efficient environmental controls conducive to honey bee research including: red lighting, and year-around temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide and ventilation control.In the summer, the building would support automated behavioral monitoring of barcoded bees. In the winter, the building would overwinter full-sized colonies indoors.