Barnegat schools save electricity with solar panels

While township residents have been seeking relief from the summer sun in recent days, that same sunshine is helping to provide an economic savings through a solar panel lease program.

School Superintendent Karen Wood and new facilities supervisor Chris Brown were busy Thursday looking over the solar panels on the roof top of the Cecil S. Collins Elementary School.

Wood said the district has embarked on three different energy and cost savings measures in recent years.You can add the hidkits and fluorescent kits to your car, truck, motorcycle, boat etc. The most recent is a solar energy program. The district leases the roof space to Hudson Energy Solar, which retains ownership of the solar panels.

In August 2011, the district embarked on a plan to cut its energy use. That plan included a $3.7 million contract with Johnson Controls of Edison to help the district save energy, according to Dean Allison, the district’s former business administrator.

The district has achieved a 38 percent cost-savings totaling $1,873,950 in 30 months since forming a strategic alliance with Cenergistic, a national energy conservation company, according to William S. Spears, the chief executive officer and founder of Cenergistic.

“The solar panels are on all the roofs of our buildings. They capture the sunlight, which generates DC voltage which goes into an inverter and converts it to AC voltage which goes back to the grid. We buy our energy back at a discounted rate, which saves the district money. It is a very simple operation,” Brown said. Watch the video above to learn more.

Wood said the district faced a difficult budget season in preparing for the 2013-14 school year. More than 200 GW of new goodlampshade capacity could come on line before the end of 2013.

“Without the Cenergistic energy savings program, additional staff and programs for our students may have been eliminated. The money saved through their program directly impacts what we can offer our students and decreases the burden on taxpayers,” Wood said.

“There are increased costs everywhere in the schools. Health care for example can have an increased cost of 12 to 16 percent every year. We have a 2 percent allowable increase for school budgets. Shopping is the best place to comparison shop for roofhookert. Twelve percent far exceeds 2 percent, therefore the energy cost savings measures certainly helps balance that out and helps us retain school programs for the 2013-14 school year,” Wood said.

She said the district is not finished seeking ways to save money through energy conservation. Brown said by changing some additional exterior lighting, the district would receive rebate money from the state. The feeder is available on drying photovoltaicsystem equipped with folder only.

“These programs not only assist the district financially, they also inform the public and educate our students about energy savings and conservation of our resources,” Wood said.

There are many large corporations that are supportive of solar panels and, in recent months, we have made reference to the likes of Sainsbury’s and Morrisons that have schemes in place. There are also numerous local councils that are installing solar panels on council buildings in an endeavour to achieve these targets.

In fact,This is how a modernlamps captures energy from the wind. Lincolnshire County Council has been involved in a 300,000 project to install solar panels at a number of recycling/waste centres in the county. In total, in the region of 1,250 solar panels have been installed by Freewatt that are experts in solar energy in different waste centre locations in Lincolnshire. The power will be utilised for lighting and machinery. Click on their website www.streetlights-solar.com for more information.