4/29/2009 5:12:00 PM Schools explore alternative energy
Justin Burnett / The Whidbey Examiner
Solar for our Schools Committee members Cathy d’Almeida, Terry Welch, Alexia Hemphill and Colleen Fox stand before the Coupeville High School’s southwest corner, where a new solar panel and wind monitoring system will be installed. The equipment is part of a $25,000 renewable energy grant from Puget Sound Energy.
By Justin Burnett Examiner Staff Writer
A $26,700 renewable energy grant from Puget Sound Energy will help pay for a solar-power project at Coupeville High School.
The grant, awarded by the electric utility to a different school district each year, will pay for purchase and installation of six 175-watt photovoltaic modules - a kind of solar panel - and an informational kiosk to be mounted in the high school commons.
While the 1.5-kilowatt project will provide only about enough power to run 15 notebook computers for 1,000 hours, the main goal is to provide an educational tool, according to high school science teacher Colleen Fox, co-leader of the grant project.
"The ability to see a working system is really powerful," she said.
The Solar for our Schools Committee has been working on securing the grant since September. Committee members include Fox, Coupeville Middle School science teacher Teresa Welch, high school senior Alexia Hemphill, 18, and Cathy d'Almeida, one of the grant project's leaders and the community resource conservation manager for the Town of Coupeville.
Puget Sound Energy Vice President Cal Shirley said in a press release that educating students about energy efficiency and renewable-energy technology is one of the primary goals of the grant program.
"Today's students are hungry for real-world experience, to be able to see firsthand how things work," Shirley said in the release. "The renewable-energy grants turn the classroom into a laboratory, enabling students to discover how their energy choices will affect the environment and economy."
Coupeville is one of four school districts to receive a grant this year. Since the program began, Puget Sound Energy has distributed $375,000 in grants to 16 school districts throughout the Puget Sound region.
Coupeville's grant also will cover the cost of installing an anemometer, a wind-monitoring device mounted on a small tower. The equipment was purchased with money from a $1,000 grant from the Community Foundation for Coupeville Public Schools.
The device will measure how much energy could be produced by a wind turbine. The information will provide valuable and realistic information to Central Whidbey property owners who are interesting in exploring wind-power generation, Fox said.
"It's not going to be something just for our school, but for the community as well," she said.
Kelly Keilwitz of Whidbey Sun and Wind, LLC, Renewable Energy Systems, also is a contributor to the project, donating up to $9,400 in design and consulting work, grant-writing support and labor for installation.
To get the grant, the committee had to demonstrate the district's commitment to energy efficiency. The committee conducted a Cool School Challenge, which identified strategies for conserving energy, and the district also completed an energy audit.
According to d'Almeida, even if the group hadn't landed the grant, just going through the process was worthwhile, as it allowed the district to look at ways to save energy, she said.
"To me, this is where the future is for students interested in renewable energy and careers in science," she said.
When the grant opportunity came up, the district had already been investigating ways to save electricity. Maintenance Supervisor Gary Smart began an experiment in February 2008 to see how much energy could be saved by lowering the heat in school facilities, running the heating system for a shorter length of time and adjusting the system's boilers.
Although the final numbers have yet to be tallied, the effort so far has helped cut heating costs by about $3,000 a month. Smart said his goal is to reduce heating bills by $60,000 a year.
Fox said Smart's efforts, the excitement the grant process generated with students, and the community's interest and willingness to consider alternative sources of power reflect the nation's growing interest in sustainable energy. People are changing old energy habits because they understand the need, she said.
"We can't keep doing the same old thing with energy," she said.
The Solar for our Schools Committee is seeking additional donations to expand the system to a three-kilowatt system, which is the size of a typical residential system. Keilwitz has offered to contribute his time for design and assistance with permit applications needed for expansion of the system.
For information about the project, contact d'Almeida at 360-672-8473.
Reader Comments
Posted: Friday, May 01, 2009
Article comment by:
David Faraday
Electricity where I live is a whopping $0.18 kWh, which I believe is the U.S. national average and I just built a solar panel from scratch using a guide I bought online.
It has definitely saved me money, and only took 4 weeks to cover the costs of all the parts. It is a real solution and much cheaper than buying one. And with the rising prices of fossil fuels, I think it's something we should all consider, not just for the economy, but also for the environment.
I found the guide through this site http://www.CostSucker.com
