Rosa Parks Elementary School and the recently completed Salazar family Habitat for Humanity house, Portland, Ore., have each received solar panel arrays funded by a partnership of Portland General Electric (PGE), Energy Trust of Oregon and The Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF).
The solar arrays are each rated to produce 1.1 kW of electricity, and will each offset about 1,400 pounds of carbon dioxide annually, the associations say. The Habitat for Humanity house is the first habitat dwelling in Portland to have a solar array installed. The solar electric system on the house will generate about one-third of the Salazar family's yearly electricity usage.
There is no cost to the Rosa Parks Elementary School's solar panels, BEF says. The school is also participating in BEF's growing Solar 4R Schools program, which provides students with a hands-on education about the features and benefits of solar energy. BEF adds that the school will not need to pay for the materials needed for the program.
‘Oregon has enormous potential to take advantage of the sun as a clean, renewable and endlessly available resource,’ says Kacia Brockman, Energy Trust's solar program manager. ‘Projects like this will go a long way to educate the next generation about how solar energy can be used.’
