We all have heroes. People who influence our lives in such profound ways that they not only inspire us to do more, they inspire us to be more. When I met Mary Spruill I was inspired to be more because she showed me the possibility of having a career in the field of renewable energy. The idea that I could make a living in this world by following my passion and working in the renewable sector was novel to me. I always thought that I would have to either be an environmental advocate OR make a stable living, I didn’t know that I could do both. She led me to this realization by example. As a true powerhouse, Mary was not only making a living as an environmental advocate, she was the executive director of a national organization known as the National Energy Education Development project! My life changed forever one fateful summer in 2007 when Mary Spruill flew me to Washington DC and gave me an award and by-so-doing, changed my life forever.

Mary Spruill

The result of meeting Mary , for me, has been less of a ripple effect and more like a “tidal wave effect.” Her networking and assistance helped me get into college, helped me stay on my career path, helped me connect with amazing people and most recently, helped me begin the career of my dreams. The way that she did this was though networking. Mary is a big fan of networking and she is truly a master of it. She gave my name to a colleague who needed a presenter to come to the American Solar Energy Society’s National Solar Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina. At that conference I met Glen Kizer, a champion for energy education and a great new friend, and I also was able to network and socialize with all of the solar companies that were present. So many solar companies, so many business opportunities for a young, recent college grad, and so little time! I made my way through the crowds and found the companies I had researched the night before. I had one company at the top of my list, and after a solid three days of networking and resume pedaling, I secured myself several offers, one being with my first choice. It was a good weekend, to say the least. I ended up getting the job of my dreams with an American solar company that I am completely smitten over and my life has been forever changed! And it is no exaggeration or even stretch to say, it is all in part thanks to Mary.

Mary Spruill speaking at the solar celebration at the Para Los Ninos Charter School in Los Angeles

Whether Mary knows how much impact she has on the children and young adults she interacts with or not is unclear to me. If she does know, she is far too modest. The following interview, which I was lucky enough to schedule with her this month, shows her modesty and her realness in its true light. She is more than an inspiration; she is a shining example of a selfless service to children, the environmental sector and the world. I hope to be just like Mary when I grow up.

An interview with Mary Spruill

Q: Where were you born?

Roanoke, Virginia. I lived there for 18 years and my family still lives there.

Q: Did you have brothers or sisters?

A: No, I was an only child. Having no brothers or sisters required me to really choose my closest friends who are, in many ways, the siblings I didn’t actually have. I learned to choose my friends carefully and was all the better for it. I enjoyed being an only child.

Q: Did you like school? What was your favorite subject?

A: I liked school a lot. I loved elementary school. Good teachers are what made me love school. The great teachers in my life had a substantial impact on who I became and what I did with my life. Math was always difficult for me but I did my best. I was always drawn to engineering but math was a roadblock for me on that path, so instead I designed my career around my strengths. In 7th and 8th grade I had teachers who were involved in the National Energy Education Development Project and they really inspired me. I participated in a year-long energy education outreach program and we submitted a NEED youth awards project and got to go to the awards ceremony in Washington DC. It was very exciting and I knew I wanted to be a part of this organization beyond my middle school participation. After this, several of us became NEED tutors in our four feeder elementary schools. This was the beginning and I’ve worked for NEED ever since. I worry sometimes about the fact that I’ve never had a “real job”, haha! But I love every minute of it!

Comment: This statement by. Mary made me laugh but then it also made me stop to think… Our society is so focused on the virtue of “hard work” that when someone finds a job that takes considerable time and work and effort but at the same time makes them happy and smile every day, they worry that they don’t have a real job… All this thought made me feel was gratitude that Mary helped me learn that lesson young; I can go to work every day in a good mood and still be a productive member of society and have a “real job.” Thank you Mary for leading by example!

Q: What did you want to be when you “grew up”?

A: It changed frequently. I wanted to be a doctor but life sciences didn’t interest me. Then I wanted to be a vet, but I hated cats. When I was in college I wanted to work for the US Foreign Service, and work in America’s embassies and consulates around the world. I took the Foreign Service Exam, got the job and then realized I really liked what I was doing part-time at NEED. I started as an undergrad only working a few days a week and worked my way all the way to becoming executive director in 2007. In 2007, I felt like the title finally caught up with the workload. I was used to having a lot of responsibility but very little authority. With the new title, I was finally really able to make things happen and consider our strategy for helping more kids, teachers, and individuals understand energy! Our organization is growing and our staff is young and energized. The best part is we are advocates for knowledge about energy issues, not advocates for any one particular issue. I love my job.

Q: What is your favorite part about your job today?

A: Hanging out with our teachers and students and the energy professionals we work with each day! I also love discussing energy issues and solutions with our students, they are so full of hope and inspiration – yes, that’s you Roxie! . Energy is an amazing subject in which both social and physical sciences come together; from deciding which type of energy to use, to where to produce it, to its long term implications, it all has both a social and scientific aspect – I love this about energy. Energy can never be created nor destroyed, and it is most certainly not boring.

Q: If you could give one piece of advice to kids growing up in the world today, about becoming successful leaders of the “green movement” what would it be?

A: The biggest piece of advice I have for kids is to figure out what you like to do and figure out how to meet the people you need to help you do it. The people you have around you and have in your network are everything. Once you figure that out, then you also have to find a way to also make the world around you a better place with that passion. Everything we do on this planet – from food production to oil drilling to green energy solutions – everything can be done in a better, cleaner, more efficient way and that should be our universal goal. To do what we do, in a better, cleaner, more sustainable fashion. So, no matter what you have a passion for, even if it’s not in the energy sector, you can still influence the energy consumption of our planet by working to improve efficiency within your field. We can all make the world a better place; we just have trust that what we are good at is what we were put here to do… even if it means never getting a “real job.”

I would just like to say, one more time, on behalf of everyone whose life has ever been improved by Mary Spruill, Thank You!!! for your service, your energy, your attitude and your humor, we all love you, Mary.

Roxie Brown

Roxie Brown in Washington DC

It all started with a call from Glen Kizer. He told me that he had a fun job for me I believed him but I had no clue yet just how fun this would be! The job was to salvage a damaged solar array at an elementary school; the fun part was that the school was only a block away from where I grew up!! What a treat! I got to save a solar school project and do my favorite type of work, all right in my own back yard! The news was exciting, but then there was the act of actually completing the job, and that was a bit more complicated…

I began by calling in a real hero, Jayson Lehmann, who is a solar installer from Scudder Solar in Monterey County. He was the best solar installer I have ever worked with and a real titan of the industry. When we got to the school it was beautiful. The campus is covered in murals and inspirational quotes were written on the walls. We needed that inspiration because we soon found that the array was more damaged than we once thought.

When you install something that is “weather proof” you generally assume that means that water won’t be able to get inside of it and damage it… well, when Jayson took the front of the inverter box off, about three inches of rusty rain water spilled out right onto his head! It was not a good thing but we still found ourselves laughing about it.

Next we had to buy a new inverter box and install it. We waited the weeks it took to ship and then when it finally arrived we told the school that this was the big day and that their solar school project was going to be saved! We installed the inverter and waited for the big moment but it didn’t come… it was clear to us then that we still had more work to do. The teachers and kids stayed optimistic and wished us luck.

The following few weeks were full of long hours of trying to analyze what went wrong, problem solving and “ah-ha” moments. We had many victories but still the array wouldn’t come up on the interactive site… and that’s the fun part! (the part, I maintain, which is by far the most important!) So we soldiered on.

Finally, on August 24th we got the Pajaro Valley Unified School District’s internet site approval that we needed to use our program on their network and the project was complete!! Yay! The array is running at peak efficiency most days, but the kids are able to also use the interactive Sunny Portal system to see why certain days the array works better than others.

The school is thrilled to have use of their solar array again and the kids are all learning about solar energy and its benefits every day!! It is wonderful to see everyone looking at the solar array in a new way and it is fantastic that it once again can be used as a teaching instrument rather than just a shade structure!

Everyone is happy, I am thrilled to have had the opportunity to serve my hometown community and I am forever grateful to Glen Kizer for instilling his trust in me in this monumental way! I’m sorry it took so long but we got it done!

I guess this project comes with a little lesson about life; when things are hard, never give up! Because the hardest things to complete end up being the most satisfying. Have a great school year everyone and stay sunny!

–Roxie Brown

The solar school installation at the Litchfield Middle School is the first of three (3) renewable energy installations that the school district has completed or will complete by the end of 2011. Litchfield is less than an hour south of Springfield, Illinois just off I-55 and less than an hour north off I-70.

There are seven (7) NEC photovoltaic (PV) panels rated at 220 watts each for a total of 1,540 watts (1.5 kW). Dale Bruhn is the primary contact for all of these renewable energy installations. Check out the Middle School installation.

The link to their live data can be found just above the pix. The data is the Enphase Enlighten system.

There is a second PV system and a wind turbine going in around the Litchfield School District and we will post stories and pix of both of those installations as they are completed. Congratulations Dale!

–Glen Kizer

“Ask What Makes You Come Alive, and Go Do It”

On May 19th I got on a plane and flew to North Carolina for the National Solar Conference. I didn’t know it as the plane was taking off, but this was going to be the best trip of my life. To explain, let me tell you how I ended up being invited to the conference in the first place.

Ases National Solar Convention

Raleigh Convention Center

My story starts when I was in high school. I was a junior and I had an idea to help my community and our planet. My idea was to convince my school district to run our school buses on biodiesel. Biodiesel is diesel fuel that is made out of vegetable oil! Cool right?! To make this idea into a reality it took a lot. To summarize; I researched about the fuel, found a company that supplied Biodiesel in my area, found a grant writing specialist to help me secure a $10,000 grant to cover my project expenses and held countless business meetings. In the end, I went to my school board, presented my project in PowerPoint form, and earned unanimous approval from the board of trustees. It was such a good feeling! They listened to my idea and because of the fact that I did all the work for them and found a way for it to cost them nothing, they found it very easy to say yes! This taught me the power of my voice, the strength you can muster when following your convictions, and about the way to get things done in a bureaucratic system. After this project was complete, I was flown to Washington DC and given a national award for my efforts by the National Energy Education Development Project (or NEED project). They were such an awesome organization that I came back and worked for them for the next three summers! It was such a highlight of both my biodiesel project itself and my entire high school career. NEED is awesome, by the way, and anyone interested in energy related science fair projects or advancing energy curriculum in America’s schools should look into them! As I said, the award was a highlight for me, but the best part of all was when the buses started getting converted to biodiesel and all the kids at my school started purposefully standing behind idling buses because they smelled like French fries! Haha! Everyone knew about the project and lots of kids stopped me in the hallways and asked me to explain how biodiesel worked. Could they pour vegetable oil into their parent’s gas tanks? (NO!! Ethanol Instead!! hahaha!!) And, were there any other awesome energy alternatives out there like biodiesel? I knew when this started that I had succeeded in every way I had hoped. You see, my initial goals were three fold; I wanted to improve the health and safety of the students, staff and environment, I wanted to save the school district money, and I wanted to create an educational experience for all involved. It was the best feeling in the world to succeed at all three, but little did I know, in terms of my professional career in relation to this project, the best was still to come.

Biodiesel For the PVUSD

After I graduated high school, I moved to a town in northern California called Davis and started school at the University of California, Davis. There, I met lots of interesting people and had great experiences, but I didn’t talk or think much about my high school biodiesel project at all. I was too busy getting an education and playing sports with my friends! I got all the way to my senior year in college without thinking about my high school biodiesel project more than a few times, but then, April of my senior year, I got a call about it that changed my life. The woman who called me was a representative from the National Solar Conference that was to be held that year (2011) in Raleigh, North Carolina. She told me she had heard my name from someone in Washington DC. She wanted me to give a presentation about my biodiesel project and my success as part of her forum on “Renewable Energy in Schools.” I almost fell over! They were offering me such an amazing opportunity! To be a forum presenter at the National Solar Conference?! “Heck Yes!” I wanted to yell, but I contained my enthusiasm and calmly replied “Yes, Gabriela, I would love to be on your forum.” The ball started rolling from that moment and didn’t stop until a week after the conference itself! Allow me to explain.

VUSD buses to run on biofuel

May 20th finally came and the conference began. At the conference, I met industry leaders and solar geniuses. I met CEO’s and interns alike. I talked to so many people that I almost lost my voice! Then, of course it was time for my presentation (good timing huh?) I was the first to speak, and I was nervous, but when I stood up and started talking about my passion, environmentally friendly projects and how to manage them, I felt right at home. The PowerPoint had lots of fun pictures of buses and biodiesel facts and pictures of me winning awards, and when it was over, people applauded and looked impressed with my project. It felt good. The other presenters went after me, Glen Kizer among them, and let me just say; they gave me so much hope and inspiration for the future of energy education in our schools! They made up a dream team! I was so honored to be among them. When all was said and done, I was approached by my new idol, Glen Kizer, and he offered me a position working to manage some of his California Solar school projects that needed attention. I gladly accepted (again, choking down the words “Heck YES!”) and we are now quasi business partners. I hope to make him very proud. The best part about the schools I am going to be working with is that, they are all near and around my hometown! I grew up in Watsonville, CA and the schools are all very near to there! I was also offered a fulltime position working for a solar company, after I graduate college, as a project administrator! This is EXACTLY what I have always loved to do!!! These two jobs are my dreams come true! And I didn’t have to change myself or my aspirations in order to achieve them. I just stayed true to my passion, focused intently on what I loved doing, worked really hard to get good at it, and now it’s going to be my career!!

This experience taught me is something that I would like to pass on to as many young people as possible, and that is: as we are growing up, adults sometimes pressure us to choose career goals that are “conventional” and “lucrative.” They generally encourage us to choose jobs that will make us lots of money first, and they try to convince us that that is what will make us happy (the money and stability). Well, I am here to tell you it works the other way around. You can’t look for a job that will make you the most money and think that that will buy you happiness, the best thing you can possibly do is to search the world for what excites you – what makes you happy, what makes you come alive – and start pursuing that! Even if it’s something that you are told will be hard to make money in. Ignore the silly adults in your life who didn’t learn this lesson as children themselves and focus yourself on the passion of your life! I can give you this advice because I learned this first hand. I knew I was passionate about saving the environment. I knew working to save the environment was not going to make me very much money, but I decided to avidly pursue it anyways. People in my life encouraged me to think practically; what would make me money? “Try nursing school or veterinary school, or law school, or become a professional of some sort.” Their general advice was basically telling me to fit myself into a pre-made peg whole. There are careers out there that have specific names and you can even do a Google search and find a salary range for most of them! That makes people comfortable, to be able to label your future career and have an idea of what you will be making, but that type of mentality didn’t sit right with me. I didn’t want to become a peg. I had very particular ideas about what I wanted my career to look like but I didn’t fit into any of the conventional slots! So, I just stayed true to my passion, ignored naysayers and hoped that someday I would find a way to make money with my skills. And now, I have the exact job I’ve always wanted! I get to manage Glen’s solar school projects over the summer and be the ‘go-to girl” for the principals and teachers, which is perfect for me because I love schools and working with green projects! And, likewise, for the new company I am going to be working for, I get to manage entire solar installation projects! From the marketing, to the implementation, to the public relations, to the finances! I am in the exact place I’ve always wanted to be and I am happier than I ever would have been as a nurse or lawyer.

So, my final advice? Stay true to yourself and follow these wise words of Howard Thurman and you will be happy.

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs, is people who have come alive.”

–Roxie Brown

TXU Energy and NEED help Brighten the Future for FBISD Students

On Tuesday, May 20, 250 Fort Bend Independent School District (FBISD) students participated in TXU Energy Solar Academy Solarbration hosted at the FBISD Administrative Building. The students, along with FBISD’s Chief Academic Officer Dr. Owen Herron, cut the ribbon (with really big scissors) for the new TXU Energy Solar Academy donated 1kw photovoltaic system installed on district grounds near the athletic stadium.

After cutting the ribbon, fifth and sixth grade students worked alongside TXU Energy staff and Melanie Harper, NEED’s workshop facilitator for the TXU Energy Solar Academy. Students explored Solar cars, solar ovens baking chocolate chip cookies, and sun sensitive nail polish too! These items are usually found in a classroom – but, for kids involved in the TXU Energy Solar Academy in Sugar Land, Texas it’s not a typical day of class! The hands-on kits and materials designed by the National Energy Education Development (NEED) Project, TXU Energy’s education partner for the Solar Academy, are fun, engaging, and help teachers and students meet the expectations of the TEKS. Students learn about solar in science, math, language arts, and social studies.

Students and teachers also access data reported from FBISD’s first web-enabled solar installation. The panel, which was donated by TXU Energy, allows teachers and students to enjoy unique research and analysis lessons throughout the school year. Check out FBISD’s solar power!

The TXU Energy Solar Academy, part of a nationally recognized renewable energy education program, helps Texas teachers and students integrate energy education into their classroom and community activities. The program provides teacher training, hands-on kits and curriculum, and a 1-kW web-enabled solar installation to participating customer school districts and educational institutions across Texas. Since launching in 2008, 33 participating school districts and educational institutions have received their donated installation, and over 2,100 teachers and administrators have been trained and are using the TEKS aligned curriculum, reaching approximately 350,000 students per year. The program will eventually include up to 40 school districts, providing training to over to 3,000 educators across Texas.

–Michelle Buckalew and Mary Spruill

Courtesy of SunPower Corporation

by Glen Kizer

I know if anyone had asked me in which state is the largest solar electricity system based on any factor I would simply say California to be safe.  New Jersey is coming in with a lot of solar installations, but I have always just assumed that the biggest PV systems in any category would be located inside the State of California.  So it was a huge surprise to me to discover that the largest solar installation in any urban city in the US is actually in the City of Chicago and very close to Lake Michigan.  It is on the South Side of Chicago and not very far from where the Chicago White Sox play baseball.  It is 10 MW so it is a large system for anywhere, but it is huge for a location within an urban US city.

Courtesy of SunPower Corporation

Exelon (the owner of ComEd) completed work on the installation recently and the dedication was on July 21, 2010.  SunPower actually manufactured the solar panels and did a lot of the installation work along with the local IBEW in Chicago, and Turner Construction.  It is located at West 120^th Street on 41 acres of ground that was a “brownfield” site and vacant for more than 30 years.  It now has 32,292 solar panels that convert the sun’s rays into clean electricity with zero carbon emissions.

Because it is a “brownfield” site there is a berm around the entire 41 acres as well as a fence and video cameras for security.  The site is now productive, but the water runoff is still controlled so that no water hits the site and then flows off site.  All runoff remains on the site.

The SunPower system has number of trackers that keep the solar panels facing the sun.  So in the morning, the solar panels face the East to catch the morning sun.  In the afternoon, the solar panels face the West to catch the afternoon sun and in the middle of the day most of the 32,000 solar panels face south to catch the midday sun.  It is an amazing site to see these solar panels gradually turning and following the sun every day.

Gabriela Martin of Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation and I were there for the tour.  Jim Amedeo of SunPower was our tour guide, and Jim is on site every day conducting tours and making sure the system is working properly.  Gabriela was especially pleased to see the huge solar array since she used to work at Exelon and had suggested this type of installation many years ago.  “It is fun to see my idea turned into reality,” Gabriela said on the tour.  In fact she kept saying over and over again “this is so much fun to see.”

As part of the project SunPower has agreed to donate “solar school” projects  to local Chicago Public Schools so there will be 5 schools with over 2 kW each to add to the Illinois Solar Schools web site.   The schools have been selected, and construction and permitting has begun.

An interesting note: the voltage of the electricity generated by the solar array is 245 watts AC.  Since all of the electricity has to go into the ComEd power grid which operates at 12,000 watts.  This means the voltage is stepped up on the site from 245 to 12,000 before it flows out onto the power grid and supplies electricity for homes and businesses on the south side of Chicago.

Courtesy of SunPower Corporation

Another interesting note:  the array supplies the electricity for the equivalent of about 1,500 homes.

Another interesting note:  the vacant site generated virtually no revenue for the City of Chicago for the past 30 years and it is doubtful that anything would have ever been built on the site because of the tremendous cost of “fixing” the environmental problems on the site.  Today the site is generating revenue for the City of Chicago.

Solar Panels

Gabriela Martin of Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation and Jim Amedeo of SunPower

Gabriela Martin of Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation and Jim Amedeo of SunPower

Solar Panels