Arlington High School students were juiced up after giving a presentation on a student-driven solar initiative to the Board of Education on Tuesday, Jan. 15 at Arthur S. May Elementary School.
Junior Caitlin Zinsley, seniors Laurel Leggiere and Jeremy Lechterman and sophomore Peter Prunty discussed offsetting some of the district’ current energy usage by means of solar power.
Their proposal calls for the installation of a 28.35kW photovoltaic (PV) 90-solar panel array on the upcoming physical addition to the high school.
The array will cost $247,000, but the students are looking to partner with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) for assistance. The students are requesting that $97,000, the funding needed after NYSERDA contributions, be added to the school board’s $40.6 million district-wide construction budget.
Divided among 16,000 district taxpayers, the solar panel initiative will cost $6.06 per taxpayer. Lechterman said the students are looking at means to defray costs, such as corporate sponsorship.
Superintendent Frank V. Pepe Jr. said letters have been written to state legislators for financial aid.
“Our administrative staff is working with students to obtain more grants and funds, so that the short-term cost to taxpayers is as low as possible,” he said.
Aside from striving for a cost-effective program, Pepe said the initiative will be a general learning tool, but not just for high school students, as classrooms in the new addition will be used for K-8 special science projects as well.
Plans also include a new course titled “Going Green: An Interdisciplinary Approach,” which would include labs directly involving solar panels and their technology, taught by a team of teachers. Academic fields for consideration include social studies, general sciences, English and technology.
According to the students’ research, solar panels are more easily manufactured and obtained than many other sustainable energy sources, and they believe the panels are better suited for their project and community.
Figures from the 2006-07 school’s energy usage reveal the 28,350-watt size of the array would produce 27,453kWh per year, approximately .8 percent of the high school’s annual electrical energy usage.
The addition of the solar panel array will lower the district’s energy impact by 7.5 tons of carbon and 27.5 tons of carbon dioxide.
“I think getting to this point was important,” said Jim Lillis, the club’s faculty advisor, and a social studies teacher at Arlington, who added that the students were inspired by a global warming teach-in done last year by Arlington alumni Mark Durniak and Jamie Fleishman.
Turning ideas into action
“Club Action is a general umbrella club about political action, and we were inspired by Jamie and Mark’s presentation, and that inspired us to use our club as a vehicle,” said Leggiere.
Last spring, Renovus Energy (an Ithaca-based company) was invited to Arlington to speak about energy conservation.
“We’ve been in conversation with them (Renovus) through e-mail and by phone,” said Richard Carroll, assistant principal at Arlington. “They continue to be a partner in the planning process.”
“Helping the board to make a positive choice on this will require a new strategy,” said Lillis. “We’re going to have to find out how we can make that happen.”
Based upon the audience’s responses, all of the students’ hard work is paying off.
“These truly are the leaders of our future, and their commitment to protecting the Earth is evident,” said Pepe.
“I’m so for this project,” said senior Patrick Carroll. “I’m thinking about going to college for conservation biology, so this is a great interest of mine.”
One thing is abundantly clear – that first impressions count.
“A school that chooses to do this is making a first impression on over 3,000 students,” said junior Jamie Roderick.