Energy conservation plan for CMSW
By: Eden K. Karolyn D. Mohnish B. Nikhil K.
Our plan
The facts and plan
We have planned on replacing light bulbs with solar panels in the school so we can save more power and to reduce the amount of electricity used in America and since schools use a lot of the percentage than we can lower the percentage to a possible of only 15% of the world's electricity.
*the average cost of solar panels is 7-9$
*a 5kw system would cost $25000-$35000
*
*the school uses electric (kWh)
*A kilowatt hour is a basic unit of energy, which is equal to power (1000 watts) times time (hour). Your electric bills show how the average number of kWh you use per month. For example, a 50 Watt light bulb left on for one hour would be 50 Watt hours, and 20 50 watt light bulbs running for one hour would be 1 kilowatt hour (kWh). According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the average monthly electricity consumption for a residential utility customer is about 903 kWh per month.
School Energy Facts
Electricity Usage
K-12 school buildings in the U.S. use an average of 10 kWh of electricity and 50 cubic feet of natural gas per square foot annually.
The average public school building is forty-two years old and was not designed to meet the growing demands of today's energy loads.
In 2008, a typical school district paid $1.25/square foot annually for energy. A mid-sized school district with 800,000 square feet of space pays more than $1M annually for energy.
Space heating, cooling, and lighting together account for nearly 70% of school total energy use.
Plug loads constitute one of the top three electric energy end uses, after lighting and cooling.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, per pupil energy expenditure rose 19% from 2007 to 2008 while inflation was only 4%.
The cost of energy is one of the few things that can be reduced without negatively affecting Pclassroom instruction.
Installation and Approval
Who would implement/ install and how would they maintain the plan?
A contractor that installs solar panels would install the solar panels. We would hire a company that would maintain the solar panels.
- Cleaning the Solar Panels
- Diagnostics
- Repairs
- Energy Analytics
- Commissioning/Recommissioning
- Module Cleaning
- System Checkup
- Inverter Servicing
- Wear and tear repairs
- Monitoring Calibration
- Electrical, hazardous, and repairs
Here are some Pictures
Usage chart
Solar Panels
Installation
Cost to implement the solar panels vs Savings made
- The cost of electricity last year for the school was $101,825.78. With these solar panels we hope to make this cost lower, use more renewable energy and be a greener school
- The average electricity a solar panel makes is 200 watts. Our school needs about 5727 kilowatts for the school year. So, we probably need about 28,635 solar panels.
- An average solar panels costs $7. So the solar panels will cost $200,445.
- Cost to implement the solar panels = $200,445
- Savings made = -98,619.22
- Even though we are at a loss, after 20 years, which is how long long a solar panel will last, it will make renewable energy for the whole school and the loss will decrease to -4,930.961. So basically, in 20 years, the school district will be saving $96,894.819.
Pros and Cons
Why are solar panels beneficial/efficient to CMSW?
Since the school is very big, we have more space to place the solar panels. Then, we can power the school with solar power instead of electricity.
Pros
- It saves lots of electricity
- Even when it rains or it's cloudy, you can use the saved energy from the other days.
Cons
- Sometimes the lights will be dim because the solar panels didn't charge enough light. So we have to have an alternative energy source.
- Costs a lot