The students and staff at Charles Tupper Secondary in Vancouver have been working toward the installation of a Solar Photo-Voltaic (PV) system for over 2 years. The VSB facilities department had originally supported the school through the installation of the bases to install solar-PV arrays and the school had also received the donation of a Power Inverter from Xantrax Corporation. However, despite this work the school and district had fallen short of the funding needed for the actual solar arrays. Almost 2 years later their efforts paid off when the school and district submitted an application for funding to Solar BC and the Province and they were rewarded for their efforts.
Tupper was given $20,000 for the installation of a Solar-PV unit to generate renewable electricity – one of only 11 schools in BC that received this funding from the Province and Solar BC. "Since Charles Tupper Secondary had already installed the bases and received the Power Inverter through their own fund-raising efforts, the $20,000 can now be used to install a larger Solar-PV array and generate almost twice the electricity than it would have been possible otherwise", said Kirthi Roberts, Manager of Energy & Climate Action for the VSB. According to Roberts, it will now be the only School in Vancouver that will have both Solar Thermal Panels for heating hot-water and Solar-PV Panels for generating electricity. The school will be integrating Solar BC lesson plans as part of the curriculum and engaging the school community in raising awareness about solar energy and the benefits of renewable energy based systems.
Similar to the support provided to Tupper, the district's facilities department and the 'Energy & Climate Action Program' installed Solar Thermal Panels (water heating) at five Secondary Schools and completed lighting system upgrades in 18 schools with a few others presently underway. The district's information technology department also installed power management software on almost 10,000 computers.
The VSB has been very supportive of these energy savings programs and has been able to obtain funds through external agencies such as BC Hydro, the Province of BC, the Ministry of Education, Solar BC and Natural Resources Canada. All of this funding goes toward the goal of advancing energy conservation, carbon reduction and sustainability district wide.
Original Story courtesy of Vancouver School Board