More schools reap benefits by going green
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A $14 million renovation is to transform Pittsburgh Northview PreK-8, built in 1962, into a greener and more attractive school. -
The staff from Pittsburgh Northview PreK-8 pose in the parking lot at the school, which will be turned into a geothermal field.
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Ten years ago, making a school "green" meant turning off unnecessary lights and carefully recycling trash.
While the basics are still important, today a green school could include geothermal heat exchangers and solar energy, strategies that used to be too expensive to consider.
The environmental pluses of green technology long have been recognized, said Mike Walsh, deputy secretary for administration at the state Department of Education.
But now he said, "In these tough economic times, there is becoming more of an economic argument to do this."
With improvements in quality, price and incentives, there's a greater opportunity for energy savings to offset the costs of technology.
"Solar panels cost less than they did five or 10 years ago. You see a better return," said Mr. Walsh. "Geothermal is an emerging area of renewable energy. It costs less than it did five years ago. People are thinking about wind. They weren't thinking about it five or 10 years ago."
Grants and other incentives also contribute to making technology more affordable. Over the past year, millions of dollars of government grants and incentives for renewable energy and other green measures have helped to make more options affordable.
A Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority grant covered nearly half of the $515,861 cost to install exterior LED lighting in 10 locations in the Pittsburgh Public Schools district.
The grant lowered the payback time -- the time in which the savings would cover the cost -- from 12.6 years to 6.5 years. The new lighting, nearly completed, is expected to save $40,881 a year.
Carlisle Area School District in Cumberland County got enough grants -- including $1 million from the federal economic stimulus, $950,000 from the state and $500,000 from its local electric company -- to pay for more than half of the $4.8 million cost to build the largest solar array of any public school district in the state.
First Published November 8, 2010 12:00 am
