Castle Dome Middle School in Yuma, AZ has been voted to have solar panels installed to help provide green energy to the school. Due to this positive vote two more schools are to be voted on in the near future, possibly leading to three schools having solar power within the next year and a half. As you can see from a past post on Arizona schools going green this is not a new phenomena, school boards are realizing that living in Arizona it is imperative that solar power be thought of as a viable resource for energy production throughout the southwest.
Kerry Jones, CFO for Yuma School District 1, said in an interview with KSWT news, “There’s an ecological benefit, and educational benefit in addition to financial incentives”. Financial benefit indeed, according to Yuma Sun newspaper, Castle Dome alone used $1.6 million dollars worth of electricity last year. It will also be a great relief to many to hear that the school is paying no out of pocket costs for the installation of the solar paneling on the roof of the school, instead the school should see a savings of over $2500 on the electricity over the next year. If after that time the school does not want to continue they have the option to walk away from the project or to change direction depending on the needs of the district at that time.
It's not just the solar panels on the schools that are providing energy to the schools, out near Florence, AZ there is a 20 megawatt solar field that powers over dozen school districts in Phoenix. While there have not been any plans for a zero net (for an explanation of zero net buildings, see our earlier post on the topic) school in Phoenix as of yet, it would not be surprising to hear about one or two of them popping up in the next few years.
Full Articles: