Renewable Energy

Heritage High School in Vancouver, Washington celebrated their new solar installation on April 30. The following is a video of the event.

Heritage high from Bonneville Environmental Foundation on Vimeo.

Liberty High School in Washington State celebrated their new 2.02 kW solar tracking array on May 4. The following is a video of the event. Enjoy!

LibertyHigh from Bonneville Environmental Foundation on Vimeo.

At 4:14 p.m. today, the Solar 4R Schools program reached a major milestone - 2,000,000 kilowatt hours generated! Since the program began in 2002, the more than 150 projects that the Solar 4R Schools team has installed, repaired or added data monitoring to have combined to generate enough electricity to power an average American home for 181 years or power a TV for 9,132 years. This amount of electricity from fossil-fueled sources would have emitted 2,800,000 pounds of CO2. Here's a snapshot of the 2 million kilowatt hour moment.

Hazen High School in Renton, WA celebrated their new 2.02 kW solar array and science kits Monday during an assembly with their friends from Puget Sound Energy and the Renton School District. Here's a short video of the event. Congratulations Hazen!

Hazen High School Celebration Event from Bonneville Environmental Foundation's Solar 4R Schools Program.

Coupeville Middle and High Schools on Whidbey Island in Washington state, celebrated their new 1.8 kW solar installation on March 19, with help from local school and community officials, Puget Sound Energy representatives and a great high school pianist named Jake Sele. Here's a little video of the festivities. Thanks to everyone who participated!

Like the new web site, but aren't quite sure how to use it? Check out the new, downloadable activity at http://www.b-e-f.org/solar4rschools/sample-activities or download the pdf here.

The activity runs through all the information you can get by visiting the Solar 4R Schools web site and how to compare data from different schools. Enjoy!

Snohomish County PUD (PUD) and its Planet Power program are currently accepting applications for solar photovoltaic public demonstration project grants from non-profit and public organizations within their service territory. Snohomish County is located north of King County in northwestern Washington state.

Click here to apply. If you have any questions regarding the grant application process, please email grants@b-e-f.org.

Applications are due at or before 5:00pm (PST) on April 16, 2010.

The Solar 4R Schools program had a great and busy year in 2009. We'd like to thank all the teachers, students and funding partners who helped make it possible, and take a moment to look back before we look forward to 2010. Here's a short video we put together that shows where we've been. Enjoy!

The Blachly-Lane Electric Co-op dedicated its 5.6 kW solar electric system and Solar 4R School Program involvement on Thursday with help from the installer, Eric Nill of Advanced Energy Systems and Brian Buhl, a teacher at Mapleton School.

The system is grid tied and offsets a portion of the co-op’s electric usage. The data collected from the system is also displayed on an informational kiosk located at the headquarters building and can be viewed at their project page here on Solar 4R Schools.

Recently-eliminated American Idol contestants Anoop (Noop Dogg) Desai and Lil Rounds showed they still had a large following Friday as hundreds of students and teachers welcomed them to Camino Nuevo Charter Academy in Los Angeles as part of its Solar 4R Schools celebration.

Anoop Desai and Lil Rounds, eliminated American Idol finalists, center, pose for pictures at Friday's Camino Nuevo solar event.

The two stars mingled with students, signed autographs and test drove model solar cars given to them during a dedication ceremony for the school’s new 1.36-kilowatt solar-electric system.