Set a Green Example With Solar Energy for Schools

Solar energy for schools is one of the most practical steps school districts can take today — and it sends a direct message to students about what sustainability looks like in action.

Today’s students are tomorrow’s leaders of industry and political decision-makers. That puts an awful lot of pressure on today’s educators to not just teach the facts, but also mold the minds and shape the behaviors of those students to create a better future.

For far too long, we’ve accepted harmful byproducts and unwanted side effects in the name of progress. Regardless of your belief in global warming and climate change, one universally accepted byproduct of industry has been a significant reduction in available natural resources.

Coal and oil reserves are declining.

But the good news is that technology and innovation have caught up with the need, and we now have viable alternatives to fossil fuels, as highlighted in the deep history of the history of solar energy.

Why Solar Energy for Schools Makes Financial Sense

School administrators carry a tough burden. They try to deliver quality education on tight budgets, which often leads to larger class sizes, fewer extracurriculars, and rising tuition at the college level.

These tradeoffs are not the result of poor management. They reflect the financial pressure every school system faces.

Energy costs are a major part of that pressure. Heating, cooling, lighting, and powering computers add up fast. According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), K-12 schools in the United States spend more than $6 billion on energy each year — more than they spend on supplies and books (source: NREL via 8MSolar).

So why are schools switching to solar? Installing solar panels can cut those electricity costs. Here’s what the numbers show:

• An average K-12 school saves approximately $21,000 per year in operating costs after going solar.
• Colleges and universities can save well over $100,000 per year, depending on size and location.

Those cost savings go back into the school — into better facilities, more staff, updated technology, and student scholarships.

Solar adoption at schools has surged. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), the number of solar schools increased by 81% over the last five years, with 5.3 million students now attending a school with solar (source: SEIA).

Providing top-notch education to students is not cheap. In fact, it’s quite costly. As administrators try to balance quality educational curricula and atmospheres with a finite budget, we see the same themes again and again:

Budget cuts in the form of larger classroom sizes or a reduction in extra-curricular activities in our K-12 schools, and tuition hikes year after year in our colleges and universities.

The school’s administration can’t be blamed. They’re simply doing their best with the undesirable hand that they’re dealt. But what if there was another way to save money?

Operational costs are a part of every school’s budget. One of the highest such costs is energy. Heating, cooling, lighting, and power for the computers – these items add up to a very large annual energy bill. With little-to-no money down, schools can begin using solar energy and drastically reduce their operational expenses.

These cost savings can be reinvested right back into the school, providing additional staff, better facilities, computers, scholarships, and more.

Read the related article: Saving Money by Switching to Solar

Financing Options For Solar Panel Installation That Work for Schools

Not every school district can afford direct ownership of a solar system up front. That's why multiple financing options exist:

• Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs): A third party owns and operates the solar panel systems and sells electricity to the school at a fixed, below-market rate. Schools get big savings with little to no upfront cost. Power purchase agreements typically run 20 years and protect schools from volatile utility rate increases (source: PennEnvironment).
• Direct Ownership: School districts that can finance upfront or through bonds own the solar energy systems outright and capture the full financial benefit. To evaluate long-term financial returns, it helps to understand the true costs of solar.
• Net Metering: Pennsylvania's net metering policy allows schools to earn credits for excess electricity generated by their solar panel systems and fed back into the grid. Those credits reduce the electric bill further (source: Solar United Neighbors).
• Tax Credits and Incentive Programs: The federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) offered a 30% credit on solar installation costs. Pennsylvania also offers the Solar Energy Loan Program (SEP) for schools and the Solar Alternative Energy Credit (SAEC) program (source: Just Energy).

For Pennsylvania schools specifically, the Pennsylvania Solar for Schools program provides a toolkit organized into ten basic steps to help PA schools evaluate solar projects, compare direct ownership vs. PPA scenarios, and access available incentive programs (source: PA DEP).

Solar Power Reduces the Environmental Cost of Running Schools

In terms of sheer size, a K-12 school is typically much larger than your average office building. Meanwhile, colleges and universities typically span multiple city blocks and include dozens of buildings. It’s not a leap, then, to say that schools have a fairly large carbon footprint.

Burning fossil fuels to power school buildings releases carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and other pollutants into the atmosphere.

These contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, global warming, air pollution, and serious public health problems. Nitrogen oxides, in particular, create ground-level ozone that damages the human respiratory system.

Solar energy systems produce zero direct emissions during operation. Research from Stanford University found that solar panels installed on all viable school rooftops could:

• Meet up to 75% of schools' electricity needs (learning how many solar panels do I need helps estimate structural roof capacity).
• Reduce the education sector's carbon footprint by as much as 28%
• Help schools disconnect from grids fed by natural gas and coal power plants that produce air pollutants like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides (source: Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability)

Over the past couple of decades, we’ve learned a few things:

• The earth’s natural resources are not limitless, and the proverbial well is beginning to run dry for items such as coal and oil.
• Burning fossil fuels produces harmful emissions, and those emissions are damaging the Earth’s ozone layer.

A study published in Science Advances (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health) found that a 15% increase in solar power generation nationally could reduce annual CO2 emissions by 8.54 million metric tons — contributing over 12% toward EPA CO2 reduction targets (source: Harvard Chan School of Public Health).

By opting for solar power, schools and universities can drastically reduce their carbon footprint immediately. What sort of reductions are we talking about?

• An average school saves more than 80 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions/year
• An average school reduces nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions by 11 pounds/year. NOx creates ground-level ozone, which adversely affects the human respiratory system.

It’s naïve to think that we can stop using fossil fuels overnight, and it remains to be seen whether we can repair the damage we’ve already done. But the time has come to adopt cleaner, more sustainable means.

Getting solar panels for schools isn’t just about saving money or helping the environment. It shows students that sustainability matters and that the school is willing to invest in it.

You can view our local institutional projects through the Millersville University Project Gallery, the Williamson College of Trades Project Gallery, and the University of Delaware Project Gallery.

Solar Energy Technology Gives Students Real Learning Tools

Within the past decade, STEM has become a pretty popular buzzword, phrase, and idea. It stands for science, technology, engineering, and math. The idea, quite simply, is to push today’s students toward degrees in these fields in the hopes of better innovation tomorrow.

Grassroots STEM program initiatives have been popping up all over the United States during this time. Getting students interested in the sciences at an early age, in theory, is the key to having them continue on that educational path through college/university.

According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), schools with solar power have built hands-on STEM lessons directly around their solar installations — turning abstract ideas about renewable energy into concrete, measurable results students can see (source: 8MSolar/NREL).

In an effort to help expand the STEM initiatives, TerraSol Energies offers learning opportunities to empower students with expanded project-based learning, internships, and career placement in the solar industry. Through the SunPower Horizons™ Program, STEM initiatives are expanded to include solar technologies and other renewable energies.

An Investment in Students is an Investment in Sustainability

Children and young adults may be impressionable, but they’re certainly not dummies. Whether we are talking about second graders or undergrads, students have a way of snuffing out the fake and the phony – and rejecting it accordingly.

Students want to be talked WITH, not talked AT. Students gravitate toward and absorb that which is real, that which is genuine.

Placing our teachers at the front of a classroom and asking them to preach sustainable energy and clean solutions is great – but if school districts and universities aren’t walking the walk while their teachers and professors are talking the talk, the message becomes much less believable.

If we want tomorrow’s world leaders to prioritize sustainability, we need to SHOW them that WE prioritize sustainability.

Going solar shows that your school is ready to invest in the future. Solar energy for schools is how school districts set a green example for the leaders of tomorrow.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do schools switch to solar energy?

Schools switch to solar to lower their electricity bills. The switch also eliminates carbon emissions from their energy use. Teachers then use the physical panels to teach science and math lessons.

How much money do schools save?

K-12 schools save an average of $21,000 per year. Colleges and universities save over $100,000 per year. The actual savings depend on school size and location. Districts put this money back into budgets for teachers and technology.

How does solar energy help the environment?

Panels produce zero emissions when they run. Rooftop systems can provide 75% of a school’s electricity. This cuts the carbon footprint of the school sector by 28%. One school saves 80 tons of carbon dioxide each year.

How do students learn from solar panels?

Teachers use data from the panels for STEM classes. Students see how energy works. Programs like SunPower Horizons also offer internships and jobs in the solar industry.