Solar Powered Schools

National Public Radio (NPR) broadcast a story recently describing one school district that had voted to cut busing services for its students. Children as young as kindergartners could be expected to walk up to 1 1/4 miles to and from school because buses will no longer pick them up in their neighborhoods due to the rapidly rising cost of diesel fuel. Budgets simply cannot keep up.

Will we hear more stories like these in the coming months and years?

Not if more districts take the lead of the solar power success stories found in North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, New Jersey and Oregon! A number of schools in these states have installed solar photovoltaic (PV) panels that change the energy from the sun’s rays into electricity, flowing straight into existing electrical systems of the buildings. Funding for the solar powered schools themselves comes in part from various sources including Solar Education Project, local utilities, universities, and state agencies. In addition, federal tax rules allow for accelerated depreciation and a 30 percent renewable energy tax credit.

Solar energy can be used both to generate electricity, through the PV panel systems, and solar thermal energy can be used to heat water. Overall, significant savings in electric bills will be realized for solar powered schools. Further, with lifetimes of over 30 years, the PV panels may extend the lives of existing roofs, adding to the savings for the school districts.

Over 12 years ago, President Clinton called for the installation of solar panels on over 1 million roofs by the year 2010, in order to “use the sun’s energy to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.” Launching the United State’s “Million Solar Roofs Initiative,” the initiative to increase use of solar roof tiles has been taken up by many schools in the country over the past decade. Read more at solar powered schools

Just recently, an Ohio state lawmaker announced another ambitious initiative to put solar panels on 2,000 Ohio school roofs, which would establish close to 50% of the states schools as solar powered schools. The move is to head off a 40% increase in electric bills that will hit schools in 2009. And talk about role models! The grand-daddy Ivy League University in the United States, Harvard University, successfully installed PV panels on the roof of its Fitness Center in 2003. Each day, the panels convert the sun’s power into electricity that would run 20-30 homes!

Of course, this is a learning experience for the students of the schools involved. Curriculum courses in physics, biology, social studies and chemistry can include instruction on solar energy and technologies. Kids can learn and discuss the benefits of renewable energy and responsibility to the environment and other nations and the world.

Check out the YouTube video created by children at JFK Middle School discussing solar power:

One might say that, the future is so bright for these students, they’ve gotta wear shades!

Image from Bend-LaPine School District