School's solar panels will empower student learning / LJWorld.com

Archive for Tuesday, August 7, 2007

August 7, 2007

Three questions with ... Trish Bransky, principal of Southwest Junior High

Trish Bransky, principal of Southwest Junior High talks about the new solar modules installed on the roof of the school. Enlarge video

Solar panels installed at SJHS

Students at Southwest Junior High will now be able to see solar energy in action. Enlarge video

Photo by John Henry

Patrick Gerring of Cromwell Environmental wires in a set of six solar panels on the roof of Southwest Junior High School, 2511 Inverness Drive. The panels are being installed as part of a nationwide project, Solar 4 R Schools, that aims to raise awareness of renewable energy.

The sun is giving a boost to Southwest Junior High School.

A crew on Monday finished installing a 1.2-kilowatt solar module on the roof of the main entrance to the school, 2511 Inverness Drive.

Solar power will provide a portion of Southwest's energy needs, but school leaders say the educational component will be the greatest benefit.

"The important thing is that our students and the community will see that an installation of this nature looks good," said Southwest Principal Trish Bransky. "We'll be generating data 24-7, and we'll be able to see how much energy we are offsetting."

The project was mostly financed by the the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, based in Portland, Ore., which develops and manages Solar 4 R Schools. The Bonneville foundation allows area businesses to purchase renewable energy credits, known as "green tags" through Zephyr Energy, and proceeds from those sales will fund the solar project at Southwest.

No taxpayer funds were used on the project, as Lawrence resident Sarah Hill-Nelson and school leaders also applied for a $7,000 grant from the Douglas County Community Foundation's Elizabeth Schultz Environmental Fund to cover half of the installation costs.

Jordan House, director of sustainable energy for Cromwell Environmental, started installing the solar module Friday. Typically, a 4-kilowatt solar module system is put on the roof of a house, and that helps offset a home's summer electric costs, House said.

But the Bonneville foundation wanted to install smaller solar module systems so the projects could involve more schools and students, he said.

"The teaching that goes with that, that's the real value that comes with this," House said.

About 20 schools across the country have similar solar modules, according to the Web site, www.solar4rschools.org, which provides data and allows visitors to compare the sites. A kiosk will be installed in a couple weeks at Southwest.

House said technological advancements had made solar power systems "no longer an exotic, high-maintenance technology."

The Bonneville foundation also provides a curriculum. Southwest physical science teachers Dwight Lassen and Jim Frink will take the lead in using the data in their classes, but other teachers and students will be involved, Bransky said.

Hill-Nelson said she hoped Southwest could be a pilot project for the area.

"This is really an opportunity for students to think about their energy and how it's getting to them and how they are using it," said Hill-Nelson, of Zephyr Energy and a representative of the Bonneville foundation.

Discussion

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7 August 2007
at 8:19 a.m.

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lawrencian (Anonymous) says…

Very cool!
7 August 2007
at 9:59 a.m.

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b_asinbeer (Anonymous) says…

I think it's a great idea…in the end schools can supply their own energy (if not most) and save on electricity in the long run. Plus, minimal CO2 emitted into the air this way.
7 August 2007
at 11:04 a.m.

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kmat (Anonymous) says…

pilch - you are the one drinking the kool aid. You have no clue and if all you can rely on is a junkscience site, then do you really think anyone would take you seriously???

Hmmm, yes it takes energy to make and install solar panels. It takes energy to make anything!!!!! The whole point of solar is that coal won't be burned to generate electricity. So, how hard is it for your feable mind to understand that you can power a building with the sun, or you can power it by coal, which will be burned 24/7 to create the electricity? Forget your junk science - try some simple, common sense science!

It is clear that you are just anti-Gore, no matter what the message is. That link is just another site trying to bash Gore for giving a crap about our world. Keep politics out of this. It's about doing what is good for the earth.

http://www.aboutmyplanet.com/category…
7 August 2007
at 2:03 p.m.

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PFC (Anonymous) says…

pilch-Steve Milloy runs Junkscience.com, and is a “policy expert” for the Cato Institute. Cato is funded by securities and commodities traders, oil and gas companies, Philip Morris, American Express, Chase Manhattan Bank, Chemical Bank, Citicorp/Citibank, Chevron, Exxon, Shell, the American Petroleum Institute, Lilly, Merck, and Pfizer. Like many think tanks, it is a front for big corporation interests. It comes as little surprise that this site has a clear agenda that has little to do with objective science. The agenda is to bash anything that does not support the corporate status quo, like solar power. You have no credibility if you use these kinds of sources to make your case.
7 August 2007
at 2:29 p.m.

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hornhunter (Anonymous) says…

PFC, the same could be said for Gore and his Klan too!
7 August 2007
at 3 p.m.

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PFC (Anonymous) says…

Sure, you can say that. You can say anything you like, but what evidence do you have?
7 August 2007
at 3:12 p.m.

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lunacydetector (Anonymous) says…

it's wonderful to see the indocrination of our children.

the chairman of the board is mark o. hatfield. could it be the one and the same former Republican senator from oregon?

7 August 2007
at 3:23 p.m.

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ksdivakat (Anonymous) says…

What happens if we get a hail storm or a tornado?? What will happen to the panels then?
7 August 2007
at 3:31 p.m.

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ndmoderate (Anonymous) says…

Holy cow, people! What's wrong with a little solar power!?
7 August 2007
at 3:34 p.m.

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mommaeffortx2 (Anonymous) says…

And in other news John Greenwald jr. has proof alians or ufos' are real.
7 August 2007
at 3:37 p.m.

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JackRipper (Anonymous) says…

Solar power will provide a portion of Southwest's energy needs, but school leaders say the educational component will be the greatest benefit.
“The important thing is that our students and the community will see that an installation of this nature looks good,” said Southwest Principal Trish Bransky. “We'll be generating data 24-7, and we'll be able to see how much energy we are offsetting.”
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This sure sounds like a valuable educational component, just like buying all the kiddies laptops so they can learn to text message. Yep, China and India look out, we are spending a bundle on teaching our kids how to be appliance operators! Help me but where are the kids learning anything with this? That the look good and make electricity? Help me.
7 August 2007
at 4:20 p.m.

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mommaeffortx2 (Anonymous) says…

ok jack but don't you mean IM not text when talking about laptops?
7 August 2007
at 4:33 p.m.

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dorothyhr (Dorothy Hoyt-Reed) says…

The people who don't want solar or wind power just don't want their reality to change. They are afraid. They like things the way they are. Recycling is too much trouble. They want their car clean, so they toss their trash out. They don't care what their children or grandchildren will have to live with, because they'll be dead anyway. Besides, someday they are going to discover an oil well in their back yard, and be upwardly mobile and live like all the elitist oil people, and who cares about anyone else.
7 August 2007
at 4:37 p.m.

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Mkh (Anonymous) says…

Nice work Southwest Jr. High. This is a great program and a first hand opprotunity for kids to learn about the importance of renewable resources.
7 August 2007
at 4:44 p.m.

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JackRipper (Anonymous) says…

My goodness, I can't understand how the value of solar power is being confused with teaching kids anything! Yes, solar panels make a electricity and that is a good thing but how much energy are they burning up with all those laptops? So we are teaching the kids tokenism, it doesn't matter if it is really making a difference in the big picture it is how it makes you look. I suppose all the fuel their parents burn driving them a few blocks in the big SUV is ignored too. Again, what relevant lesson are they learning? If the story would have just been solar panels added to SW jr high it would be one thing but some how it tries to come out that the kids are learning from this addition. I'm lost.

7 August 2007
at 5:01 p.m.

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ndmoderate (Anonymous) says…

JackR, maybe the kids will take what they learn about renewable energy and stewardship and decide to walk the few blocks to school instead of getting a ride in an SUV.
7 August 2007
at 5:04 p.m.

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gdrich (Anonymous) says…

I've read the comments for a long time without registering, but I just couldn't take it anymore.

Jack- The education isn't in the installation of the panels. Is the work you accomplish everyday in your traveling to your job? Its in the opportunities for the kids to learn about electricity and renewable resources through studying the panels and how they work. Don't forget, things that you take for granted are exciting discoveries for kids. For example, what happens to the rate of generated electricity when it is cloudy? When it is 6pm compared to noon?
7 August 2007
at 5:05 p.m.

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JackRipper (Anonymous) says…

Let me stop laughing ndmoderate! I would love to believe that but this is Lawrence and that is SW jr high. I'd rather see the kids learning math, science, English, history, geography so when they are older they might be able to do something real about the problems instead of just designing a marketing campaign.
7 August 2007
at 5:10 p.m.

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ndmoderate (Anonymous) says…

Well, then, enjoy your pessimistic world, JackR.
7 August 2007
at 5:13 p.m.

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JackRipper (Anonymous) says…

I'd like to think by the time they are in junior high they would know that a solar cell works better with more sunlight. Will they plug their instruments into a computer that is burning the electricity that is being created so they can create a pretty graph? Come on, they are learning how to be an appliance operator. Will there be any hands on or reading books to understand why it works or will they be instructed to surf the net for some light reading about it? Any discussion about how much energy is wasted by the computers? Part of learning is the hands on building experiments instead of buying them from companies that sell pretty, no room for any real experimentation projects. This sounds like something you could do with a voltmeter hooked up to a solar cell. Could have been done a long time ago. It is great it is being used but it is hardly “educational”. Oh I forgot, it does teach that they are attractive!
7 August 2007
at 5:44 p.m.

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Roadkill_Rob (Anonymous) says…

Let me get this straight, JackRipper. You're finding something negative in this story? You don't think this is a good educational tool for children? Wow. It's people like you that give me little hope for the future.
7 August 2007
at 5:45 p.m.

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hornhunter (Anonymous) says…

logicsound04, what I was pointing out to limited reading people like you, was the same thing PFC was saying about Junkscience. ( corp. intrests) Also if you think the word Klan only represents the KKK, then you are a ignorant FDA
7 August 2007
at 5:54 p.m.

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Roadkill_Rob (Anonymous) says…

Klan does only represent the KKK. I believe you meant “clan.”

7 August 2007
at 6:06 p.m.

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JackRipper (Anonymous) says…

Ok, ok, I'm sorry. I too feel good about the story. The future of American education is just fine and dandy. The kids can look at solar cells on the roof and gather something from that. A bright day indeed, almost as important to education as the new KU football uniforms are to education at KU.
7 August 2007
at 6:06 p.m.

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hornhunter (Anonymous) says…

hornhunter (Anonymous) says:

PFC, the same could be said for Gore and his Klan too!

The words (his Klan), refers to his followers
7 August 2007
at 8:13 p.m.

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Roadkill_Rob (Anonymous) says…

Hornhunter,

No, Klan does not mean his followers. Look it up in the dictionary, encyclopedia, google it, etc…Klan means KKK. Clan means followers. I can understand a typo but to willfully suggest that Klan means “followers” is wrong.
7 August 2007
at 8:57 p.m.

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dorothyhr (Dorothy Hoyt-Reed) says…

JackRipper - solar energy is science. Maybe you should go back to school.
7 August 2007
at 9:15 p.m.

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Newell_Post (Anonymous) says…

I think the kids should also be taught how to do net-present-value and internal-rate-of-return financial calculations on this system and compare said calcuations to other energy conservation investment options.
7 August 2007
at 9:46 p.m.

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jonas (Anonymous) says…

“hornhunter (Anonymous) says:

PFC, the same could be said for Gore and his Klan too!”

True, except that no one brought them up until a random bashing, that has nothing to do with this article or topic, save that both sometimes concern alternative energy and propose to help the environment. Has Al Gore become inextricably bound to all forms of environmental issues? I think not. I think it's more likely that he provides a goofy straw-man for people to use to rationalize their knee-jerk reactions against uncertain threats to their perception of things.

JackR: Are you suggesting that it's one or the other, that we can't do this project AND educate our children in other ways, such as math and reading? Or are you suggesting that our children themselves won't be able to handle such diverse input.

Getting a reading on the costs and energy offset by this panel is a perfectly useful experiment. If provides us with a cost for installation and operation, and what savings or usage is offset by that usage. And it does it in a small, non-commitant way, that doesn't make us rely on it or go whole hog, but still allows us to study the benefits.

Some of you are just haters. Man up and admit it. You'll feel better about yourself by purging your cognitive dissonance.
8 August 2007
at 9:26 a.m.

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JackRipper (Anonymous) says…

My gosh, I give up. While the Chinese and Indians and other countries are working hard studying calculus and actual science, we will send our kids to look at solar cells that a company put on a building and deduce what is a given, they make electricity when the sun is brighter. Something that sounds more suited for elementary education. It is science as much as how the flush toilets work, do they study that too? If we want to teach kids that science is fun and cool and doesn't require effort and hard study we will continue to flounder and decline internationally. I have nothing against the solar panels and would encourage more of them, I honestly think they are great but to call it a learning is rather bizarre. It is so irrational that you all don't seem to be able to distinguish that I am for solar panels but concerned about this being reported as science. How many of you have used them? I have and plan to add more.
The schools should focus on teaching real science that requires study instead of concerning themselves with selling solar panels because they can look good. I'd like to know how the vast majority of them apply this to their daily lives. I know at West there is a teacher who will plow you over in her big Expedition in the morning. Thankfully I also know there is at least one science teacher who does bike to school and is also an incredible science teacher. Please separate selling a concept from the idea of it being science.
8 August 2007
at 11:25 a.m.

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pilch (Anonymous) says…

I am sure this one will also be removed because of my lack of PC, however I will go ahead since the supreme court has rejected prior restraint. I am all for alternative energy, I am not however convinced of the carbon is the enemy argument. Just because you hear it enough does not make it true. Things are not as they seem.

8 August 2007
at 6:32 p.m.

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hornhunter (Anonymous) says…

Roadkill_Rob,
maybe you read it as the KKK, which someone with your screen name would indicate you are from the south, but hopefully not all people are of your mentality and don't make it to be something it is not. If I would have meant KKK, I would have wrote KKK. So now you can change your screen name to Richard_Noggen. BTW, Richard_Noggen does mean something else, maybe you can find the right meaning to it since your so good at it.