Alameda’s Solar Education [Solar Schoolhouse project]

source: american public power association July-August 2003

Alameda Power & Telecom is a moderately sized, municipally owned utility serving the city of Alameda, an island community of 75,000 in the heart of San Francisco Bay. With more than 80 percent of its power coming from renewable resources, the utility makes educating power users about energy efficiency and renewable power sources a top priority and prides itself on the way it is ensuring electricity for future generations.

“One of our major goals is changing energy-use habits and educating people of all ages about energy efficiency and renewable energy,” said Karin Lucas, president of the Alameda Public Utilities Board. “Over the past few years, we’ve begun working with the community on a new level to meet this goal by educating school-age children and adults about energy use and renewable energy sources.”

Lincoln Middle School studnets Ashton Barry (left) and Laura Baptista (right),
with their science teacher Bill Dodge, display a solar photovoltaic panel.
The school's new solar photovoltaic system--installed with a grant from
Alameda Power & Telecom--is in the background. [Photo courtesy Alameda Power & Telecom.]

New program reaches out to children--future customers
“We’ve created several energy-education programs targeted to all age groups within the local community,” said Meredith Owens, energy management supervisor for Alameda Power & Telecom. “Our new program reaches out to children since they are our future leaders. We provide students with information that will allow them to make good decisions regarding energy down the road.”

In 2000, using funds from its Clean Future Fund and its Public Benefits Program, Alameda Power & Telecom hired The Rahus Institute, a research and educational organization focused on solar energy education in California, to institute a series of programs to engage local students, parents and teachers in learning activities that focus on the use of renewable resources.

Tor Allen, president of The Rahus Institute, contacted local high schools to determine interest in a program on energy basics, energy efficiency and solar energy. He helped high school science teachers develop hands-on classroom programs, many of which are still in use today. After the successful collaboration, Allen was referred to Bill Dodge, a science teacher at Lincoln Middle School, who had also indicated interest in such a program.

Using The Rahus Institute’s Solar Schoolhouse Program, Dodge and Allen created science lesson plans that use the power of the sun as a starting point for teaching about energy resources and other energy topics.

“While we create something new and exciting for students to learn with Solar Schoolhouse, we are also providing something long-lasting for teachers,” says Allen. “Our approach is to provide materials and curricula through teacher workshops in such a way that teachers develop the skills needed to teach energy in their classrooms year after year – not for just the short time that we are around.”

Middle school is site of one-kW PV system
As part of the solar photovoltaic education program, Alameda Power & Telecom decided to build a one-kilowatt solar photovoltaic system at Lincoln Middle School. The Rahus Institute coordinated getting the Women’s Solar Photovoltaic Design and Installation workshop from Colorado-based Solar Energy International to install the system at the school as part of their class. The installation was completed in March 2002.

Dodge says the system installation was an excellent learning experience, particularly for his female students. “The women who made up the Solar Energy International workshop served as good role models and helped the students identify other career possibilities,” he says. “Not very many women enter the field of electricity, and this project has exposed them to something that’s a possibility.”

A one-kilowatt solar photovoltaic array, producing 1,600–1,750 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year (about 0.4 percent of the school’s electricity) was installed in an awning configuration at a 35-degree tilt angle, covering the computer lab window and offering shade. Located near the entrance to the school and on the southwest wall of the arts/science building, the system allows for maximum sunshine exposure and promotes community interest and discussion.

Web reach planned for middle school PV project
A data monitor is mounted on the wall below the solar photovoltaic array and connected to a local PC in the school’s science classroom. The PC stores the data from the monitor for student analysis. Plans call for the data pulled from this system to be available on the Internet in the near future, making the information available for classroom study at all Alameda schools. Dial-type and digital utility kilowatt-hour meters were also installed below the array on the exterior of the building to allow students and visitors to check the number of kilowatt-hours produced by the system.

When the Lincoln Middle School solar photovoltaic system officially went live in April 2002, the school sponsored a month of solar activities that were integrated into all aspects of curricula. Science students built and raced solar-powered vehicles. English students prepared essays for English classes about solar power and renewable resources. Art projects used the power of the sun. Math students performed home-energy audits. And even the band learned tunes that celebrated the sun.

“We wanted to make this work with solar energy relevant and tangible to the kids—something they could experiment with and watch come alive,” said Allen.

Project promotes awareness of renewable energy sources
“This demonstration project was designed to help young people learn about how the sun’s energy can be converted to electricity. In addition to providing our children with new information in a hands-on manner, it helped build awareness in the community regarding renewable energy sources,” said Owens.

Solar education continues at Lincoln Middle School and the solar photovoltaic system has become a permanent teaching tool for the school and the community. Two in-class labs and a community-wide workshop took place last spring and more are planned for future school years.

“Schools should be a community resource,” Dodge said. “It’s critical for our children’s education to have parents involved. This is an ideal opportunity for families to work together and learn something new.”

In the future, Allen hopes programs like this will be available to all students. “We’re working on a project with the California Division of the State Architect to make portable classrooms with a solar photovoltaic system option available for very low cost,” he said. “Our ongoing efforts with curricula include offering a week-long summer institute for teachers, developing more online teaching materials, and targeting California’s outdoor environmental education schools, which each year host over 200,000 student visitors.”

Circus performance imparts energy, renewables message
Alameda Power & Telecom has a history of finding unique ways to educate elementary school students. The utility commissioned an original Make*A*Circus performance in 2001 to provide a creative introduction to renewable energy sources. Called “Sky Juice,” the circus performance incorporated the basics of electricity and the value of renewable power resources, delivered by a cast of zany characters. A videotape of the performance allows students throughout the Alameda Unified School District to enjoy the circus program.

The utility’s energy education program is not limited to the classroom. For the past three years, the utility has offered customers free trips to the Northern California Power Agency’s geothermal power plants just north of Calistoga, Calif. These trips offer Alamedans a first-hand look at the geothermal plants and steam fields that produce 50 percent of Alameda’s renewables-based electricity.

The utility is adding geothermal education to its school-based education initiative. Working with the Geothermal Education Office, Alameda Power & Telecom is developing and providing classroom presentations, field trips and teacher education relating to geothermal electric power at Chipman Middle School and Otis Elementary School.

“One of our sub-goals with our ongoing education programs is for people to become familiar with the faces and roles of the staff at Alameda Power & Telecom,” said Owens. “We especially want the youth to see the staff as regular people within the community and to realize they can have a future career in electricity—anything from a lineworker to a management role.”

Alameda Power & Telecom is focused on building a better community through energy efficiency and environmentally friendly electric power. Educating power users of today and tomorrow about clean power generation continues to be a major initiative for the utility.

“We’ve set very high environmental standards for our sources of power, and we pride ourselves on being an industry leader in this area. We rely heavily on geothermal and hydroelectric resources to meet our customers’ power needs,” said Junona Jonas, general manager of Alameda Power & Telecom. “And of course we’ll continue to explore new alternatives as those technologies become available.