Solar systems at elementary and secondary schools create opportunities for reduced energy bills and student education… but they’re also expensive. Even when a school system recognizes the long-term potential for savings, the money just may not be there for the up-front investment.
The Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) and Solarpower.org are trying out an innovative method of raising for school solar systems: get bloggers involved. The Bloggers for Solar Schools program ask site owners to install a badge on their site. For each badge installed, Solarpower.org donates $10.00 to FEE’s Solar Schools program. They’ve set a goal of 10,ooo badge on sites, or $100,000.
I’m not sure how many systems that money will buy, though the program does focus on small solar installations (1-5 kW). The savings on energy may be relatively minimal, but the educational potential seems huge. Kids are hands-on learners, so having solar panels available could spur a lot of interest in renewable energy among students.
Bloggers — are you participating, or do you plan to participate? Think this is a worthwhile effort? Share your thoughts with us…
Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mjmonty/ / CC BY 2.0
December 26th, 2009 - 11:17 pm
I think that the schools should incorporate this into their curriculum. Teach the children how to build the solar panels. There are many resources on the internet on how this can be done with very little out of pocket. One example would be http://www.solartechtown.com/how-to-build-a-solar-panel/ The materials list totals around $500. What a wonderful opportunity it would be to teach children how to plan, create and finish such an important project.