My name is Greg Holman, and I applied for and won a $20,000 solar installations grant from PG&E in 2005. Let me share with you a little about the process, hopefully to inspire you to start your application today.

As a sixth grade teacher, for years I had been searching for that “hook” to get students more interested in science. One year while teaching about renewable energy, it dawned on me that we really should “practice what we preach.” The search for funding began. While talking with our facilities manager, he directed me to contact PG&E. From there, they directed me to their solar schools website: www.pge.com/solarschools

The thought of finding time to write my first grant was a little intimidating. After looking over the application, I could feel my anxiety fade away. Not only was this something I could do, but the thought of a chance at a free solar array for my school…. exciting!

First, I pulled together my resources: teachers, administration, and my wife (the world’s best editor.) Next, I brainstormed responses to each part of the application. How would this look at our specific site? Where would we install the array? How can I use this with students? How were other teachers using solar in their classes?

The fantastic thing about the PG&E application is that it is so open-ended. They allow you to design a program that fits your specific site, grade-level and subject. You teach writing? Yes, solar can be your topic for debating the best energy source, or discussing the types of energy that can reduce climate change. You are a math teacher? Your focus will be graphing solar data as it relates to weather, or looking for a relationship between daylight and solar output.

The most important step is to finish and submit the application. Review, revise and edit – just as you tell your students. I showed one of the drafts to my students and let them help revise it. In fact, they helped add to the application. Ask for help. I would be happy to discuss how to handle any portion of the application you are “stuck” on. Questions about any aspect of the process? – feel free to contact me at: greg@learnenergy.org. I’m working part-time this summer to help The Foundation for Environmental Education support schools in the PG&E Solar Schools Program.

Several weeks after submitting, our little school was ecstatic to hear we had been selected. Since then, it has entirely changed our school atmosphere. What before was a good place, is now amazing! It has created our own identity. “Oh, you work at the school under the solar panel.” News reporters, homeowners, and staff from other schools are often stopping by to find out more. Our students have become “energy experts” in our little town. Slowly, solar is changing from “alternative energy,” to just “solar energy.”

If you are fortunate enough to live within PG&E’s service area, apply today. If not, take some initiative and contact your state department of energy, or local utility. Ask. You may be surprised how easy it is to become a solar school.

The Center for Advanced Research and Technology (CART) was the first school in the PG&E Solar Schools Program – the school was selected for their aptitude in science and math, and their mission of collaborating with businesses and community agencies to educate students in a cross curricular, project-based environment that is academically rigorous, and facilitated through a business based instructional model. Their solar installation was celebrated on April 1st 2005 – no fooling!

Since April of 2005, the students and faculty of CART have done some amazing things. Recently, they announced the establishment of the Pacific Gas and Electric Company Environmental Research and Technology Lab.

Students in the Pacific Gas and Electric Company Environmental Lab at CART are creating a photovoltaic lighting system for the lab’s storage shed. Since the students have never done a project like this before, they had to start from scratch and work their way up the ladder. Through using internet and book resources and speaking with a PG& E employee, Mr. Joe Estrada, they learned how to set up a photovoltaic system. Not only do they know the difference between AC and DC currents, but they have become familiar with wiring, light fixtures, and the extensive vocabulary.

Ally Simmons shows one on the PV Panels that will be used for the project

If you’re not familiar with solar energy it is basically energy that is gathered from the sun. The solar panels absorb the solar energy radiated from the sun and in turn create electricity. This energy can supply the same amount of electricity that fossil fuels produce, but instead it is a clean and renewable energy resource, which makes it more environmentally friendly.

The goal for this project is not only to create a lighting system for CART’s storage shed but to demonstrate alternative energy sources and help reduce the nation’s dependence on fossil fuels. When asked why she is involved, Ally Simmons stated, “People in the world need to start caring about what happens to our earth. Our future and our kid’s future depend on it. I am proud to be apart of something that could make a difference even if it’s small.”

Last month the 2006-2007 Health and Bioscience/Plant Ecology Club of Mount Diablo High School prepared for graduation, and celebrated one of their final accomplishments with their school and community…the PG&E Solar Schools Program team was there to have a Solar Celebration with them. Lead by teacher Sandy Johnson-Shaw, the students dedicated their new organic garden to Carolyn Hebert and Perry Carlston – “For the seeds you helped plant, and for those that have yet to grow in all of those you’ve touched.” These wonderful teachers (Mrs. Hebert, Mrs. Johnson-Shaw and Mr. Carlston) had been planting seeds for years…but in October of 2006 they began realizing another dream- to create an outdoor learning lab connecting healthy food to renewable energy within an organic garden, and that’s where the PG&E Solar Schools Program team stepped in to help with the energy elements of the garden.

In October, there was some dirt, sand, and a dream. By March, there was some new soil donated and delivered by American Soil Products on behalf of the PG&E Solar Schools Program.

By April, the first crops were being harvested, and a 700 pound steel sunflower was growing form the earth with a team from SolarCity .

One of my favorite quotes is, “You See Things; and Say “Why”? But I Dream things that Never Were; And I say “Why Not” … most people know this as a quote of John F. Kennedy, but in fact it’s from a Nobel Prize winning author. The MDHS Organic Garden is the culmination of a several dreams, and we can’t wait to see where the next class of dreamers leads us.

The first person who writes to us with the name of the true author of the “dream things that never were” quote, and writes with another famous quote attributed to him/her will get a special EnergySeeds prize…

Fernwood is now part of American Electric Power’s Learning from Light initiative that helps put solar on schools, museums, public zoos, and nature centers. If you visit the Fernwood Botanical Gardens and Nature Preserve, you can say “hi” to Peter van der Linden, the Executive Director. Peter wrote this blog story.

Here are a few views from Fernwood…images taken by photographer Jan Ferris.

Fernwood is a botanical garden and nature preserve near Niles, Michigan. We provide a broad range of programs including environmental education for more than 5,000 school children annually. When offered the opportunity to have a solar demonstration on site, we were delighted to participate.

Fernwood’s mission is to increase people’s understanding and appreciation of nature, so solar power is a natural for us. Solar is an earth-friendly technology that reduces our dependence on fossil fuels, which can be very polluting and contribute to global warming. We want our visitors to be aware of the alternatives, and what better way than to actually show them!

Our solar collectors are mounted above a wood fence near our Visitors Center, along a heavily trafficked sidewalk that doubles as a wheelchair ramp. They face south where they receive good sun exposure year round. The electricity they produce is routed into the Visitors Center, supplementing the power we receive from our utility company.

We will be placing interpretive signs along the sidewalk, to draw attention to the project and educate our visitors about solar power. We also hope to set up a computer screen inside the Visitors Center so visitors can monitor the electricity produced by the collectors. Fernwood welcomes more than 25,000 visitors annually and we want them all to be more aware of solar power.  You can see what Fernwood’s system is producing by going to their public page on SMA’s SunnyPortal.

*Fernwood thanks the Foundation for Environmental Education for providing the solar collectors and Indiana Michigan Power for funding the project.*