Students for Solar Schools

Students for Solar Schools will be working with Corvallis High School as they make progress towards the ambitious goal of a 100kW system for their campus. The student led initiative there received a $20,000 Walmart Grant, which will go towards the first 10kW of PV solar to be installed. Please visit the Green CHS website to learn more about the project and donate or become a partner. The 10kW per year philosophy, has the advantage of ensuring that many generations of students will have the opportunity to become leaders in pursuing renewable energy.

Students for Solar Schools founder Adam Raudonis and VP Lisa Peng were invited to present their story about creating and developing SSS at the Westlake Business Connections meeting. The event’s theme is “Growing Business by Networking People.” The nationwide network Students for Solar Schools has built is what makes our project truly unique. As the Westlake High Solar Initiative nears completion, even more energy will be able to be devoted to helping other schools follow our model, and making sure each SSS leader is connected with fellow SSS members across the country. Thanks to Mr. Hellebrand for inviting us to the meeting!

Today’s start up of the Students for Solar Schools Initiative at Whitfield High School in St. Louis, Missouri  marks the 12th solar initiative started under SSS. Jessica Smasal, is just getting started but plans to meet with school, county, and city representatives over the coming weeks. She also plans to work closely with Marissa and Codyrose on the project. Whitfield School is a small private school which means collaboration with the school administration should be relatively easy. The team also plans on possibly working with Missouri Schools Going Solar which has already installed 17 arrays at schools across the state.

Thanks to the California Climate Champions Program, in partnership with the British Council, the CA Air Resources Board, and Next 10, Students for Solar Schools, led by Climate Champion Adam Raudonis, received the $1000 CCC grant award in the mail today. This money will go towards the PV solar project at Westlake High School. Students for Solar Schools is very grateful for these funds, and they will go a long way towards making the Westlake project a success. Thanks again!

According to information from the Department of Energy, public schools nationwide are “spending more than $8 billion per year on energy.” Extrapolating historical trends of energy cost per kilowatt hour in California, it’s easy to see how energy expenses can go even higher if schools do not generate renewable energy and adopt efficiency measures. The graph is of residential and commercial rates. School rates are often slightly padded, but they are not immune to rate increases.

Over the next few months, Students for Solar Schools plans on helping Elizabeth Valencia applying for the PG&E Solar Schools grant. The school is in the utility company PG&E’s territory. This means that they can apply for a 1kW solar display system under their Solar Schools program. We will continue to help the school through out the process and hopefully they will be one of 40 schools chosen for the solar panel grant.

Students for Solar Schools along with its founder Adam Raudonis were featured in the latest edition of Vegetarian Times. You can read the full article (and who got Stick of the Month) by downloading the attachment. VegetarianTimes

Today Students for Solar Schools was awarded a $250 grant from the Greenopolis Foundation. Every bit helps in adding to our solar panel fund. Next week, we will also be applying for two more grants and awaiting the results in the coming few months. These funds will go towards the solar panel project at Westlake High School.

Visit Villa Park’s Page to learn more about Senior Brandon Bak’s successful solar pilot project. He obtained a $5000 grant from BP solar and used the funds for a small PV solar installation to demonstrate to his school district the feasibility of the technology. He is looking for a student at his school to continue the effort and expand the use of solar in the district. SSS will do its best to ensure that any future edeavor will have as much resources available as possible and that other schools can copy the model Brandon established.

Students for Solar Schools is constantly working on creating new pitches and presentations for Westlake and for other schools to use. The pitch below is for westlake. Please also check back soon as we will be completely redoing the plan page for the SSS website.

Last week I gave a presentation about Students for Solar Schools to the Thousand Oaks Youth Commission. This is the first official presentation I’ve given about SSS. You can watch the second half (where I answer some questions here) Part 2

This past week a very important meeting was arranged between the principal of Westlake, the Director of Planning & Facilities, his maintenance staff, and the CEO of Solar Electrical Systems Greg Johanson. We discussed the specifics of cost, roofing requirements, inspection, and approval through the State Architect. Essentially, once SSS raises the necessary $11,000 we will see solar panels on the roof shortly after. The main problem we found was that most of the incentives for solar (that bring the cost down almost by a factor of 4) are tax-incentives. Since Westlake High School is a non-profit by default, it does not gain any monetary benefit from such tax incentives. One thing we are currently looking into is a third-party generating agreement or mini-PPA where a for-profit entity, such as an LLC, local business or individual would lease the system to the school for free and agree to give back the tax incentives over 5 years. Stay tuned for more!

This week, I am happy to annouce that David Soto from the Dorado Academy in Dorado, Puerto Rico has officially started his campaign for solar panels at his school and possibly a few other local private schools. He has already met with his local solar company and will be meeting with the Mayor and School Board in the future. Please view Schools, and then Dorado Academy to learn more about the progress of this chapter. Stay tuned for more updates. Remember to visit the Download page for pitches, templates, and presentations you can use at your school.

Today we finished off the Westlake High School fundraiser. By placing jars in about 20 classrooms and running a school-wide publicity campaign we raised $520. Most of the coins have not been counted so we don’t have an exact amount. But keep posted for the running total soon. The fundraiser is a small portion of the total goal, but it represents an important step in the process.

Students for Solar Schools has been featured on the SOSI Blog. The Sustainable Oregon Schools Initiative is a project of the Zero Waste Alliance, a program of the International Sustainable Development Foundation. You can view the article here http://sustainableoregonschools.blogspot.com