The Johnson Foundation, as everyone who reads the JT knows, is going green by installing a solar energy system at their offices located at Wingspread. What Racine residents may not know is that Walden III, a RUSD school, has plans to go green as well.
From a recent Walden III newsletter: Over the summer two companies submitted estimates for the installation of a 14kW solar electric system on the roof of Walden’s main building. A week or so ago, representatives from central office came to Walden to give not only their approval for the project, but also permission to use the energy and the money it will generate to increase the energy efficiency of other parts of the school.
Like the Johnson Foundation’s project, 60% of the costs will be covered by grants and the students of Walden, through fundraising, will cover much of the remaining costs. Whatever your opinion on the whole “greenhouse” and “carbon footprint” debate is – you have to admit that investing in alternative energy sources makes sense.
With all due respect to the other schools, having young people focus their time and resources on making a school green is far more meaningful than some of the community service projects being done across our state.
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So is Walden “seeing Green” like the Johnson foundation or are they “going green?”
What I mean is are they really using the energy that they produce or are they doing what Johnson’s are doing which is generating income to off set their own usage of cheap energy while sticking the rest of us with the bill.
Who do you think pays that grant that they will receive?
Who is going to pay for the increase in energy prices?
Now that I got that off my chest…I actually think if they are using the energy it is a great idea! I have been toying with putting in a wind or solar energy generation for my house and going “off the grid” but I am still weighing the costs versus the benefits and it is still a slightly losing proposition.
I’ll be on the look out for Walden’s progress.
Gopfolk, I've been anxiously awaiting your comments as I know this is a topic near and dear to your heart. What took you so long? :>)
But seriously, are we only going to get into a discussion of who actually pays for grants ANYONE receives?
The answer is, as anyone knows, is the public pays for grants- either via a tax increase or passing it along to other consumers.
But anyway, from what I understand about the Walden project is that they will be using the energy they create for the school, and hopefully offset the costs of future "green initiatives" for the school.
I don't hold much stock in companies "trading/selling carbon credits", but I do not believe this is the schools intention. It is their intention to open the children's eyes to better tomorrows.
What I find most interesting is these young people are EXCITED about making a difference in the world and tackling real problems.
With all due respect to other schools, this community service project has far "meat" and substance than simple community beautification projects other schools do.
I believe that there is a WE Energies grant involved as well.
Sorry it took so long just been very busy!
I too think that opening student eyes to something different is a good idea...I only hope that they use this in this fashion.
Any school that does something like this deserves a kudo's.
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