Are you the champion who brought Solar to your school? If so, Yoel Hanegbi from Eshone Energy would like to hear from you!
With California deeply committed to Renewable Energies, we’re creating our own version of the Freedom Trail; this time seeking freedom from oppressive energy costs.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the Global Warming Solutions Act (AB32) into law in 2006, which mandates that, by the year 2020, we must reduce our CO2 levels by 30% to match our 1990 levels and then another 50% by 2050.
The mandates are in place. The tax incentives and rebates are available to help schools switch to Solar Power. Bond measures are being passed to support modernization and new construction. And yet, what Eshone Energy has discovered in talking with community members is that every school district has among them a Solar Champion. One who knows that cost-effective alternatives are out there. And one who takes the first steps to close the gap between the dream and the realization of solar for their community.
This Solar Champion is and/or could be:
- A School Board Member who is passionate about the benefits of renewable energy and understands the cost benefits for schools as well as the education opportunity for student.
- A Maintenance Manager of an elementary school who sees a way to cut electrical expenses. The Maintenance and Operations (M&O) staff know the school’s site and equipment best and they will be integral in any Grid Neutral Planning as well as the ones who will be maintaining and operating the Solar Power Systems.
- A teacher who approaches the Community/Board Advisory Committee (CBAC). This committee has a broad spectrum of representation and serves as a communication engine where information is gathered and disseminated, and providing the Board of Trustees with topic specific community feedback.
- A high school student who makes it his/her senior project and gets the attention of local newspapers and businesses. Because the Senior Project is a research paper on an approved topic of the student’s choice and presented to a review panel of judges made up of teachers, administrators, and community members, the topic could ignite the review panel to carry it forward to the district.
- Parents who just put solar roofing on their home, sees how much it’s saving them each
month, and further wonders why the school couldn’t be on Solar Power as well.
- You!
Are you alerting your community to the benefits of Solar Power? Moving to Solar Power is a positive action and as such, the champion is met with enthusiasm and will find the supporters needed to take it to the next step.
What are the key factors to getting Solar installed on your school? Below are four steps that will enable your school to become Grid Neutral (where your Solar Power System produces as much electricity as the site consumes).
Step 1
For a New School: Set energy performance goals.
For an Existing school: Measure current electricity use and set performance goals.
Step 2
Implement and maintain appropriate energy efficiency and conservation measures to lower electricity use.
Step 3
Install solar or wind systems to create electricity to meet remaining needs.
Step 4
Monitor electricity consumption and production.
Click on this link to read about these steps in more detail.
If you would like to share you thoughts, please either leave a comment for our Solar Compass Blog below or send an email to the editor@eshone-electric.com.
If you have any questions about how to approach your school or need information to bring to your school, please email solutions@eshone-energy.com.
And if you’ve already started the Solar Revolution at your school and are ready to see some specifics as to the customized system and the accompanying funding options, contact press@eshone-energy.com.
Solar on schools on a PPA basis is a natural. If one looks at a curve of natural gas price and production over time you will see that the 2005 & summer 2008 price spikes did not spur increased supply. The drop in prices we experienced during fall 2008 suggests that we are on the margin...small increases or decreases in demand drive prices in dramatic fashion because supply cannot be ramped. So natural gas prices are only going to go up from current levels. Since approximately 50% of California's electricity comes from natural gas, there is a vulnerability. PG&E's rates increased 7% from Apr08 to Oct08 due to the summer 08 gas price spike. So having price surety via a solar PPA helps buffer school budgets against electricity price spikes. Once a system is in place, Step 4 is a critical task in the project. For a system as large as a school, a continuous monitoring program should be implemented with commissioning of the system. Over time there are various things that can happen within a system that would decrease output (trees growing & causing shade, connections coming loose, component failure, etc). Even though an event like this might occur as little as 2-3 times over the 20 year life of a system, the problem is the event lowers system output. This compounds the impact on a daily basis. If the occurrence of the event coincides with high grid electricity cost periods (e.g. PG&E's annual peak of 12p-6p M-F during May to October) then the owner will have a most unpleasant surprise in their mailbox. So monitor closely!
Posted by: Craig R Horne | January 17, 2009 at 10:19 AM