Onsted Community Schools Go Green with Solar and Wind Energy Installations

Onsted Community Schools will start utilizing clean green renewable energy with the recent erection of a wind turbine and a solar panel. The solar panel and the wind turbine power generation facilities have been set up close to the parking lot of the high school.

The school has received around $57,500 in the form of funding from  Energy Works Michigan. It is planning to meet the balance cost of $76,100 from its own project capital budget.

The Community Schools District also has plans to install a geothermal system utilizing the underground heat to install a new heat and cooling system in the school. The school is also in receipt of a weather station with a display and online monitoring equipment as a part of the project. The online monitoring facility will be made available to the common public through the website of the school. The solar panel installed at the school in November has generated around 138 kWh of clean power, enough electricity to power an average home for five days. The clean energy website of the school district indicates that the clean power generated by its solar facility so far can be equated to offsetting of nearly 185 pounds carbon dioxide discharges.

According to Mark Haag, Superintendent of the school district, the district commenced its energy conservation initiatives in the summer of 2009. He said that the current clean energy installations will allow the students to get educated on clean energy applications and enter into employment opportunities in clean energy technology.