SOLAR POWER ADVANTAGES

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Information on Solar Panels?

I’m going to pitch an idead to my school about switching to Solar Energy. What are positive and negative effects of the solar panels?
Also what is the cost for installing them into a highschool?
How much would the electricity bill decline afterwards?

These are all questions that nobody can answer without evaluating your location, building square footage, solar siting, and energy needs. You’d need to get a solar installer out to really evaluate what it would cost for your application. Don’t forget though that there are ways you can make the money back faster. There are federal and often local tax incentives for solar installations, and utility companies in many states have net-metering programs in which you essentially sell your excess power back to the utility company. For a school application, you may not have very much excess power to sell back, but it would at least reduce your draw.

I would look at the US Green Building Council’s website, and check out their LEED for Schools certification track. I would also call a rep there and find out what kind of funding is availalbe either through grants or loans, for school applications.

I would say as part of this project you should really push for a renewable solar energy contract with your school’s utility provider as well, so that the supplemental energy that solar panels can’t provide is also coming from renewable sources and not petroleum.

Also as part of this project, I would recommend looking at ways to reduce your lighting power draw in the school. Lighting power is typically the biggest energy draw in any building, schools being no exception. If you could look at daylighting options in each classroom either through light shelf applications on windows, or solatube skylights, you could greatly reduce your lighting power draw. Minimally I would look at switching over to LED lights in each classroom, and installing occupancy and/or daylight sensors in each space. LED lights are expensive up front, but they are easily able to pay for themselves over the course of their lifespan (which is much much longer than fluorescent or incandescent) both by reducing maintenance costs, energy draw costs and by keeping your cooling costs low. It’s something that solar panels can’t do. Daylight sensitive controls are controls that monitor the level of daylight in a room and adjust the electric lights to provide supplemental lighting if and when they’re needed. Occupancy sensors are much more common, they sense when someone is in the room and they shut the lights off automatically after a minute or so if the room is empty.

Bringing down the power load in the school would be really advantageous in a lot of ways, and would really make a stronger case in my opinion for solar panels. A major solar application then would provide them with enough free energy to run the remaining energy systems with the potential for excess energy to be sold back to the utility.

Of course they should also closely examine how well-insulated the school is. They could be wasting a lot of energy on heating and cooling (probably mostly heating for normal school days) if the school is not well-insulated.

Solar Energy

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Windmax HY1000-5 1,000 Watt Max 24-Volt 5-Blade Residential Wind Generator Kit $1,099.00 Advantages of 5-blade wind turbines over 3-blade wind turbines 1) 5-blade wind turbines will greatly improve annual energy production in low wind conditions. For areas with average wind speeds of 11 MPH (5m/s). If you compare annual energy output to conventional 3-blade wind turbine, there is an increase of annual energy output of more than 60%. 2) 5-blade wind turbines will dramatically improve t…

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Casio Scientific Calculator (FX260SLRSC) $6.12 FEATURES FRACTION CALCULATIONS TRIGONOMETRIC FUNCTIONS & MORE 1 & 2 VARIABLE STATISTICSMEAN/SUM/# ELEMENTSSTANDARD DEVIATIONSCIENTIFIC NOTATIONPOLAR/RECTANGULAR CONVERSATIONSOLAR POWEREDINCLUDES HARD SLIDE-ON CASEShipping Dimensions : 9.50in X 6.00in X 1.00inEstimated Shipping Weight : 0.3434…

Etón Raptor NSP200WXB Solar USB Charger and Weatherband Radio (Black) $99.00 AM/FM/WB digital radio tuner NOAA weather alert Digital display 10 AM / 10 FM station presets Digital clock with alarm Chronograph Audio line input DC input (5V, 500mA) with mini-USB plug (included) 1800mAh, rechargeable lithium ion battery Battery charge indicator Solar charge indicator Bottle opener…

Ambient Weather WR-111 Emergency Solar Hand Crank AM/FM/NOAA Digital Radio, Flashlight, Cell Phone Charger with NOAA Certified Weather Alert & Cables $80.00 IMPORTANT NOTE: The unit consumes more power in weather alert mode due to continuous scanning. We recommend purchasing a USB to AC Converter here:www.amazon.com/s/?keywords=ac+to+usb+adapterPower Specifications: Dynamo Power: The hand crank generator charges the internal Lithium Ion battery Solar Power: You can play this radio with sunlight or charge the Lithium Ion battery USB Power: With the in…

OWI Frightened Grasshopper Kit – Solar Powered $0.49 An educational robot and mini solar toy. He’s small, but he’s an attention-getter! Explore the potential of solar power with this neat science item. The Frightened Grasshopper Solar Powered Bug Teaches about forms of alternative energy. Shows how solar energy can be used to generate electricity. Illustrates how radiant energy from the sun can be transformed to electrical energy with a PV cell A mo…

Schumacher PP-2200 Portable Outdoor Power Unit $69.00 The Schumacher PP-2200 Portable Outdoor Power Unit is a portable electrical power supply designed to provide 12-volt DC power, as well as AC power whenever and wherever you need it. The unit contains one built-in DC power socket and two three-pronged AC power outlets fed by an onboard 400-watt power inverter. Additional features include: a 22Ah maintenance-free AGM lead-acid internal battery, bu…

Miccus BluBridge Auto-Talk, Solar-Powered, Bluetooth Hands-Free Car Kit for Bluetooth Capable Phones $59.99 Miccus BluBridge Auto-talk Car Hands-free Kit BBAT-01 Cordless and Mobile Phone Headsets…

Photovoltaics: Design and Installation Manual $29.00 Producing electricity from the sun using photovoltaic (PV) systems has become a major industry worldwide. But designing, installing and maintaining such systems requires knowledge and training, and there have been few easily accessible, comprehensive guides to the subject.Now, with Photovoltaics: Design and Installation Manual, a world-class solar energy training and education provider—Solar …