Mountain Middle School continues to make strides in reducing its carbon footprint.
Since the installation of solar panels in 2016 and the completion of its energy-efficient addition in January, the school has generated more than 13,000 kilowatts of excess energy back into the electrical grid and avoided the creation of more than 180,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.
Those statistics and more are available on the school’s website. Shaw Solar leases 164 solar panels to the school.
“I would say 98 percent of our school is running off these solar panels. The heating, air conditioning, all of it,” Head of School Shane Voss said.
The solar-powered expansion includes classrooms, meeting spaces and an exhibition hall. The older section of the building also was converted to run off solar energy.
Solar tubes, which capture sunlight using a rooftop dome and transfers it indoors through a reflective tube, were installed throughout the addition.
“As a school, we need to be the change we want to see in the world,” Voss said. “The evidence of climate change is indisputable.”
La Plata County Electric Association rewarded Mountain Middle School for its energy-efficient improvements with four rebate checks totaling $5,225, LPEA spokeswoman Indiana Reed said.
“Rebate checks are presented to people who change their old fluorescents to new energy-efficient LED lighting,” she said.
Additionally, LPEA purchases excess power that filters back into the electrical grid. Mountain Middle School received its first check in April after a year’s worth of generation.
“Mountain Middle School has generated quite a bit more energy than they use. ... We credited them $888 in April for their excess solar,” Reed said.
According to Shaw Solar owner John Shaw, the school has produced more than 116,000 kilowatts of energy since January 2016, a number that has saved them more than $16,000.
“That number is the cash value of the energy produced so far by the solar system. It’s what the school has saved since the installation of those panels,” Shaw said.
Voss said the school expects to save roughly $225,000 over 25 years from the solar panels. The money the school saves will go back into the classroom.
“It really is a school of the future,” Voss said. “We are one of very few schools in the Four Corners that are a net-zero energy building.”
A net-zero energy building, or zero-energy building, is one in which the total amount of energy used is equal to or less than the amount of renewable energy created there.
mrupani@durangoherald.com
