Solar in our Schools: The National Solar Schools Census

Sorry for the delay in getting my blog posts out regularly:  grad school and internships have eaten up a lot of my time over the past 9 months!  However, since I have a few days before my next internship kicks in, I wanted to write a post about a really cool new effort currently being undertaken in the solar community.

Solar power will be an important source of energy for future generations to harness to meet their energy needs.  However, because solar power is a relatively nascent energy subsector, it doesn't have as much credibility with the public, largely because many people don't quite understand how solar panels work, or the benefits they can provide to their wallets.  To their credit, a number of schools around the country are working to install solar panels on their campuses, so that students can learn about solar power at a young age and become more familiar with the process of energy generation from the sun.  Solar panels have ancillary benefits for the schools themselves as well:  solar power lowers energy bills for school districts, which means that schools can then allocate the money saved on energy to repairs for dilapidated buildings, or even to programs that may have been canceled or cut from stressed budgets in prior years.

One of the biggest methods of spreading the benefits of solar power is through word of mouth.  If individuals, businesses, or schools hear about the savings other entities have reaped through investing in solar power, they are more likely to invest in the same technologies as well.  But how will we know which schools have taken steps to become greener?  One new effort by The Solar Foundation will help to shine light on this trend.  The National Solar Schools Census  is an attempt to collect data on all of the K-12 schools that have installed solar panels throughout the nation.  The map is really cool; it uses Google Maps so you can zoom in and see the solar panels on the schools that have installed them already.  It also breaks down the schools by the size of the installation that currently exists.  While the data is understandably patchy at this time (since it can be difficult to get accurate data for all schools in a state, and because the pace of solar adoption is currently quite rapid among schools), its certainly inspiring to see all the work that K-12 schools have taken already to save money and educate their students about solar.

If your school isn't on the map, the web page has an email address so you can send the Foundation your information and be included!