On April 20 at 2:00 p.m., SunPower by Positive Energy Solar will help flip the switch on an instructional solar array at Rio Grande School (RGS). Soon, students at the school will be able to learn firsthand all that the sun has to teach them. A special curriculum has been developed by Erin Gaddis, the school’s Science Educator and RGS alumna, which incorporates the solar array into hands-on lessons for the children. The small dual axis SunPower tracker is expected to save the small private school over $11,000 over the next 25 years. It will also help demonstrate to the children how switching from fossil fuels to solar energy generated by the system can save 160,000 pounds of coal and 46,000 gallons of water in our drought ridden state according to estimates from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
“Rio Grande School is thrilled to join the growing community of Santa Fe schools that support solar energy,” says Head of School Nigel Taplin. “Thanks to a very generous donor, the school can deepen its commitment to our core value of environmental stewardship, which is driven by our priority to nurture the students’ sense of responsibility in the natural world.”
RGS is the third Santa Fe area school that SunPower by Positive Energy Solar has solarized this year. Last month, Acequia Madre School had their system turned on and in February, Santo Nino Regional Catholic School celebrated completion of their new solar array. This is a growing trend in Santa Fe and in schools across the nation where students, educators, facility directors and school boards alike are looking to solar as a hedge against rising operational costs. Solar has the added benefit of demonstrating to future generations that school administrators and educators do care about the legacy that they are leaving behind.
“As a Benefits Corporation, we are committed to helping educate and empower the children and adults in our communities to harness the power of the sun and shift our energy paradigm,” says SunPower by Positive Energy Solar CEO Regina Wheeler. “Our goal as a company is to see New Mexico become an energy leader through the adoption of solar and we believe that educational institutions are the perfect conduits. We commend the efforts of these schools and institutions, which are forward thinking and are shaping the future of Santa Fe for generations to come.”