Onsted Community Schools has tapped into energy-saving measures with the recent installation of a solar panel and wind turbine.
School officials observed the recently completed project with a presentation Monday. The district received nearly $57,500 in grant funding from Energy Works Michigan for the solar panel and wind turbine package, set up near the high school parking lots.
The balance of the $76,100 project was covered with funds from the school's capital projects budget.
Superintendent Mark Haag said the district started pursuing the energy conservation project in the summer of 2009. He said the installation will help educate and prepare students for college and careers in "green economy" fields.
The district will install a new heating and cooling system in parts of the school that uses naturally occurring ground heat.
Though the geothermal environmental control system and the wind turbine are part of a larger plan to help the district save energy costs, Haag said the turbine and solar panel are not funded by, nor part of, the bond project.
As part of the Michigan Renewable Schools Program, the school also received a weather station with an in-school display and online monitoring equipment.
That monitor should be available for public viewing through the school's website sometime next week, Haag said.
Now that the devices are up and running, science classrooms at Onsted will be able to tie in to them through the school's curriculum.
Since the solar panel was hooked up to a monitoring system on Nov. 3, it has generated 138 kilowatt hours of energy, enough to power an average home for nearly five days. That is enough to offset 185 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, according to the Energy Works website.
Haag said it is a start, given the skies are mostly cloudy during Michigan's winter months.
