Solar energy project saving money and educating students at Decorah High

Decorah High School students witnessed the installation of nine solar voltaic panels on the outside of the auditorium wall (on Claiborne Drive) at the school two weeks ago. This is one effort intended to make the school system more self sustainable.  The whole package of equipment (including nine solar panels, data monitoring and recording devices), technical assistance, workshop education, project management, and administration came about as a result of a $25,372 grant from the National Center for Appropriate Technology (part of recent federal economic stimulus funding), as well as over $11,000 of in-kind support from the school system, and a $7,000 grant from Alliant Energy.

Principal Kim Sheppard wrote the grant with assistance from teachers John Condon, Brad Johansen, and Tim Hayes. The teachers provided the technical perspective and assistance regarding the integration of the solar energy project into learning activities for students. Educational activities were required as part of the grant application. At the School Board meeting Monday night the teachers shared a wide range of teaching opportunities – from simple math, graphing and calculus, to the science behind solar energy and electrical conversion systems, to biology and the mapping of collected environmental data such as temperature and wind.

The solar panels do not include a battery storage system, but rather the DC current generated is converted to AC by an "inverter." From the inverter, the AC is tied directly into the school grid. The energy from the panels roughly equates to one third the electricity consumed by a "normal" home. Although this may not appear to be huge, there are also many spin offs such as the monitoring of the energy usage within the building and the realization of savings by that sort of energy audit.  The hands on experience of this wide ranging learning tool is one that few schools can offer (Decorah is one of four schools in the state with this opportunity).

The installation will not be affected by the upcoming high school renovation, and it also lends itself to expansion opportunities. In the near future the school will be hosting a solar energy workshop for the Decorah community.