The idea that existing schools can save money by installing solar systems
isn’t anything new. But solar technologies could potentially be even
more influential in getting new classrooms into place more quickly in
communities where electricity isn’t readily available.
One well-known company taking this view (albeit a self-interested one) is SolarCity
SCTY +3.33%, which this week created an organization called the Give Power
Foundation that will donate an elementary school solar installation — along with an energy
storage component to handle night-time use by the communities they
serve — for every 1 megawatt of residential solar that it installs
during 2014.
(Note to those asking in their heads: No, the backup batteries aren’t related to SolarCity’s Tesla deal.)
The SolarCity foundation will team up with a youth service NGO called buildOn
to construct the installations, targeted at the roughly 291 million
children who attend primary schools that aren’t supported by
electricity. The focus is remote areas, and the initial locations will
include Haiti, Mali, Malawi and Nepal.
Notes the company, which celebrates its first IPO anniversary this
month: “By giving the gift of power, we will enable schools in remote
locations throughout the world to foster continuing education during
evenings and become the central places for these communities to grow
closer and celebrate together.”
Some might consider this a stunt to deflect attention from questions over SolarCity’s past business practices
and the way that it values its installations in order to collect
certain tax rebates. Still, considering that SolarCity “signs a new
customer every five minutes,” its solar school donations could add up
rather fast. The U.S. residential market just recorded its biggest quarterly gain ever: adding 186 megawatts, or a 49% increase over the year-earlier period, reports GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association.
Solar for every (temporary) classroom?
While the focus of SolarCity’s philanthropic effort is emerging
economies, architecture firm Perkins+Will has created a modular
solar-powered classroom, called Sprout Space, meant to serve mobile K-12 learning environments.
The module is designed to be net-zero: to produce as much energy as
it needs to operate. The technologies that help it pull this off include
sun shades, integrated rainwater collectors, highly efficient heating,
ventilation and cooling (HVAC) systems and solar photovoltaic panels.
The unit at the Sprout Space demonstration installation in the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., uses HVAC and solar technology from LG Electronics :
the Multi-V Mini (for the HVAC) and the X Module for solar generation
needed to run the building. Approximately 16 of the solar modules
produce the same electricity as a 4-kilowatt power plant. The demo uses
factory-installed racking and grounded inverters. The entire system was
integrated by Modular Air and marketed as “Greenergy 1000.”
“This is a demonstration
that has viability and that we know can be replicated,” said Kevin
McNamara, vice president of commercial air conditioning for LG
Electronics.
“We see this as a great way to leverage the inverter
technology.”
Aside from Sprout Space, McNamara sees this integrated system as
appropriate for residential applications: there are projects under way
in Florida and Georgia.
The modular classroom market is bigger than you probably realize:
there are more than 300,000 “temporary” classrooms (you know, those
make-shift buildings you see on school properties) in the United States.
Many of them are due for renovations, and this self-contained unit is
being pitched as one option. “When the right financial analysis is done,
the hurdles become lower,” McNamara said. “Longer term, it is about
energy and also about the maintenance of the facility and how it is
constructed, along with the labor costs and material costs. The beauty
of these systems is in their simplicity. … It’s about what is being
spent, versus what you can avoid spending.”
All things considered, the number of schools using solar power today
is rather miniscule: The installed capacity is roughly 116 megawatts
(about 637 schools), or about 0.64% of all the schools in the United
States, according to data gathered by The Solar Foundation.
0 comments :
Post a Comment