Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

District Solar Deal Includes Learning Wagons

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 07/30/19

An Indiana district is setting up solar farms that will cover the energy usage for three of its schools. Hamilton Southeastern Schools will be working with Ameresco to implement two solar arrays, with a total of 4,800 panels and the capacity of generating 2.4 million kWh annually. The company said that level of energy production was sufficient to power 294 homes for a year, avoiding 1,687 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

District Solar Deal Includes Learning Wagons

District Solar Deal Includes Learning Wagons

District Solar Deal Includes Learning Wagons


Source: Hamilton Southeastern Schools

The deal also includes two "solar wagons" and programming to help the schools add solar-oriented curriculum into the classroom.

Funding is coming from a combination of four-year bond fees and cost savings expected from the solar arrays. According to local reporting, the investment is expected to be covered in 11 years through cost savings.

"Our partnership with Ameresco has already allowed us to invest in projects that directly benefit our students and create a more sustainable learning environment at our schools," said Superintendent, Allen Bourff, in a statement. According to the district the project, which began in January, has already loosened up sufficient budget to cover construction of a playground at an intermediate school, with the expectation that two more will be built in the future.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • College of the Desert Hits Construction Milestone on New Campus

    College of the Desert recently announced that the construction of its new Palm Springs Campus in Palm Springs, Calif., recently reached a major construction milestone, according to a news release. The college is partnering with general contractor C.W. Driver Companies, which recently “topped out” the facility by placing the final beam in its structure.

  • How a Portable Sink Helped an Art Classroom Run More Smoothly

    Classroom design decisions can have outsized effects on instructional time and safety at schools juggling mismatched infrastructure, strict budgets, and crowded schedules — particularly in the arts. Between spilled paint and dirty brushes, art classes run smoother with a sink in the studio. But many schools don’t have a sink in every art classroom.

  • Deferred Maintenance Issues Growing at Universities, Gordian Reports

    U.S. colleges and universities are falling increasingly behind on facilities maintenance and repair, according to Gordian’s 13th annual State of Facilities in Higher Education report. The deferred capital renewal burden has reached $156 per gross square foot, an 8% increase over the previous year.

  • Classical building columns display digital data streams

    The Campus Nervous System: Why Facilities Risk Is Now a Leadership Issue in Higher Education

    Facility performance now intersects with safety, compliance, on-campus experience, institutional reputation, and financial resilience. That places it firmly on the leadership agenda.