School District Saving Green Thanks to Green Energy Initiative

The green energy investments the Phoenixville Area School District made last winter are starting to pay off, district executive director of operations Stan Johnson told the school board at its September 20 meeting.

Thanks in large part to solar cells the district installed on the roof of the high school and administrative office in December, it cut its total energy bill by over 30 percent from the 2010-11 school year to 2011-12 for a total savings of $287,000. While Johnson conceded about 60 percent of these savings were attributable to the mild winter, he said the numbers were welcomed.

“We exceeded the expectation by twelve percent, so that’s the good news,” he added.

Johnson explained that the solar cells, which cost $1.2 million to install as part of the district’s $3.5 million green initiative (the costs were partially offset by a $500,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority), generally produce about 20 percent of the total energy required to power the high school and administrative building, weather permitting.

During the weekend, when the buildings are mostly powered down, the district sells the excess energy the cells create back to the grid at a profit.

“That helps our overall energy bill,” Johnson said.