The Town School: Powered by Sun & Wind

Submitted by mwatson@greensc... on Tue, 10/02/2012 - 00:00

 

The Town School is an independent, co-educational, non-sectarian elementary day school, founded in 1913. It has approximately 400 students in Grades N – 8 and 68 faculty members. Located on East 76th Street and the FDR Drive, overlooking the East River and John Jay Park, The Town School balances the traditional and the innovative, emphasizing excellence in academics.

Educating for sustainability is teaching children to meet the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations. The Town School recognizes that all living things and natural systems are interdependent.  Town strives to put this understanding to use in their lives, their communities and the world in which they live. Town believes that is a world for which we are all responsible, both today and in the future.

SPECTACULAR SUSTAINABILITY STATS!

  • In the last four years, Town has participated in the Million Trees community action project, planting over 8,000 trees in the NYC area.

  • For the past 36 years, the Third and Fourth graders at Town have spent several days managing and contributing to a self-sustaining working farm.

  • In 2008, partnering with The Green Schools Alliance, Town made the commitment to reduce its carbon footprint by 30% in five years. Our EPA Portfolio Manager number at that time was 16, indicating we were more energy efficient than 16% of similar buildings nationally. In less than four years, we have improved to 27, an improvement of almost 70%.

OTHER SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVES AT TOWN

  • Integrated curriculum across divisions

  • Sustainability Coordinator

  • Standing Sustainability faculty and Parents’ Association committees

  • Student Environmental Club

  • Solar panels providing energy for our science labs

  • Student-led composting for use in school planters and herb garden

  • Food sourced from local farms

 

POWERED BY WIND . . .

NYC Mayor Bloomberg Flips the Switch on NYC’s 1st School Wind Turbine

 

On Monday, June 11th, 2012 at 2:30 pm, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg flipped the switch to formally commemorate the installation of an Eddy GT vertical axis wind turbine atop The Town School, located at 540 East 76th Street, New York, New York 10021.

“The Town School contacted The Big Wind about purchasing the Eddy after the Class of 2009 graduates voted to gift a wind turbine to the school,” says The Big Wind President Gregory Hart. “The students will have a fully functioning source of renewable energy that complements the school’s existing solar panels.” The system will also have a web-based wireless monitoring system that students will use in the classroom, providing a source of excellent “real” time data about wind and renewable energy that can be incorporated into the school’s science program.

Ken Higgins, Town’s Upper School Dean and Sustainability Coordinator, says “A critical part of The Town School’s mission is to educate our students for sustainability, to teach children to meet the needs of the present without compromising those of future generations. We are thrilled to be the first school in New York City to have a wind turbine on its roof. We hope this wonderful addition to the Manhattan skyline inspires schools and communities everywhere to continue to work together to give our children the tools and education they need to create a sustainable future.”

“To have young people experience wind and solar power generation firsthand is invaluable to the future of renewable energy in this country,” Hart says. “These students will become the country’s scientists, engineers, and politicians, and they’ll be the ones who look back and wonder why previous generations waited so long to act.”

The Big Wind is a Sea Girt, NJ based distributer for Urban Green Energy, the world’s leader in vertical axis wind turbines. Executives from The Big Wind and Urban Green Energy attended the June 11th ceremony.

 

 . . . AND SUN: SOLAR ENERGY AT THE TOWN SCHOOL

Goal:

To reduce Town’s dependence on the energy grid, and to move the school closer towards sustainability, the Graduating Class of 2008 raised $10,000 towards the purchase of solar panels.

Project Design:

Proposed was the installation of 28 Sharp solar photo- voltaic modules of 6.048 kW and 216 watts DC and two inverters. The installation is a grid tied to our grid from Con Edison and these solar panels will provide power to science wing for enough power for both our upper and lower science classrooms, including lights and computers. These solar panels are placed over our Nursery / Kindergarten play roof giving us the maximum southern exposure needed. The panels are placed on an angle where daylight is still going into the play and we achieve the best benefit.

Project Savings:

Annual Energy Savings: $6,760
Project Payback (including installation) 1.0 Year KW Reduction – Solar Panel System 6.048 kW

Rebate:

$1,080 per solar panel rebate on all panels (28 in total), through the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).

Total rebate incentive on this project - $30,240.

Project Results:

Very apparent from the photos is the increase in annual energy savings from the solar panel. The students are delighted that The Town School has made another significant step in reducing our carbon footprints and in addition preserve our environment for future generations and future students of The Town School. The solar panels will continue to provide energy to The Town School for years and will operate for years without having to be serviced.

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