Green Schools

Sometime ago we waxed rhapsodic about our desire to see more green buildings in Calgary, particularly those that took advantage of schools as potential green (education) sites. A few weeks ago, we were lucky enough to be invited to Cochrane High School to observe some of the of green steps they have taken over the last few years.

Above is the first solar panel array that the school fund-raised for. The panels have been placed on the roof, and it was mentioned that the biggest limit to the number of panels they could place was not cost, but the quality of the roof.

These kinds of roofs were not built to handle large structural loads, and the placing of solar panels, wind turbines, or event "greening" of the roof, will require renovations be made.

Below is the second array the school purchased the following year (at a much lower cost), along with a small wind turbine.

Does Cochrane High School generate enough power for its own electrical needs? No. Currently the power is sufficient for their large gymnasium scoreboard, a laptop that hosts their website and monitors their power consumption (running continuously), with perhaps a small surplus. The real payoff then is in the interest the school has sparked not just among Cochrane students, but throughout the world, as their website will attest. As more and more schools are being constructed with LEEDS and BOMA standards in mind for greening, Cochrane High functions as a first-generation pioneer in this effort.