Solar, Upgrades Will Trim School Energy Bill (by $34 million)

[jpak]

http://www.earthtechling.com/2011/11/solar-upgrades-will-trim-school-energy-bill/

Soon, solar panels will begin appearing on the campuses of Jurupa Unified School District in Riverside County, Calif. The contractor on the job, Chevron Energy Solutions, announced the 2.7-megawatt (MW) solar project which, along with energy-efficiency upgrades, will reportedly save the district an $34 million in energy costs.

Solar photovoltaic panels will be mounted on parking shade structures at nine of the district’s campuses. In addition, more than 21,000 lighting fixtures will be updated with energy efficient lighting, and 400 air-conditioning units will be replaced. Overall, the project is expected to cut the district’s electricity use by as much as 42 percent and reduce carbon emissions by 4,500 metric tons, the equivalent of what 882 cars would produce.

In addition to installing, operating and maintaining the project, Chevron said it will also provide special curriculum materials for teachers. These can be used to provide a living laboratory for students to learn about environmental awareness and energy savings, the company said.

“This is the next step in our ongoing quest to keep Jurupa Unified School District as sustainable and well-managed as possible,” school district Superintendent Elliott Duchon said in a statement. “We’re making our schools a better place to learn and teaching our children the importance of energy efficiency and environmental stewardship.”

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[postulater]

1. Excellent! If we can't get Congress to act, we can at least do local things.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

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[Nihil]

4. Expensive & fragile silicon pie-in-the-sky is not "the future" ...

... just a continuation of "the past" in the sense that it keeps
putting very expensive (and currently vapourware) eggs into
vulnerable & over-hyped baskets - basically a continuation of the
"Business As Usual" plan written with new shiny ink.

:thumbsdown:

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

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[Nihil]

7. Or even like a genuine visionary ...

He who wishes to fight must first count the cost. When you engage
in actual fighting, if victory is long in coming, then men's weapons
will grow dull and their ardour will be dampened. - Sun Tzu

[Nihil]

3. This is a vital point:

> In addition to installing, operating and maintaining the project,
> Chevron said it will also provide special curriculum materials for
> teachers. These can be used to provide a living laboratory for students
> to learn about environmental awareness and energy savings, the company said.

Get the young aware, interested and educated in the fields that they will
*need* to know to promote the survival of their civilisation rather than
just pushing them through the sausage-machine into the choice between
the humanity-sapping search for short-term profits or the despair of
long-term unemployment.

:toast:

[madokie]

5. If we could just get congress to find the will

Most or many of us have the will but can't afford the panels. If I could I would have my back yard turned into a mini solar farm. Our house isn't situated where we could mount them on the roof but we have a big ass yard that could use some shade that solar panel would give.

[Kolesar]

8. I wonder if this project was enabled by a state "renewable energy portfolio" requirement

The efficiency improvements read like a utility efficiency program as in commonly done by Sacramento Municipal Utility District/SMUD or by Efficiency Vermont www.efficiencyvermont.com

Ohio has both due to the 2008 electricity reregulation bill I lobbied for.

[ChazII]

9. Scottsdale schools - Coronado and Desert Mountain High

are solar powered.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/scottsdale/articles/2009/09/18/20090918sr-solar0918.html

[Dead_Parrot]

10. WooHoo! Chevron Energy will save us all!

Wait, what?