St Michaels Nowra - Nurturing Green Endeavours
CHALLENGE
St Michaels Catholic Primary School has a nurturing philosophy which starts with its students and its community and extends to every green corner flourishing within the school.
The school of approximately 500 students, from Kindergarten through to Year 6, clearly supports environmental initiatives. Last year's introduction of a 46,000 litre rainwater tank literally stopped traffic during its delivery; today it is saving more than five litres for every flush of their updated toilets, and has spurred the school community on to address further climate change issues.
Currently, there are several green plots within the school including an indigenous garden of native plants, a herb garden which is harvested by the students and sold to the teachers, and a thriving garden that is tended by the student body garden club.
To further the school's environmental initiatives, St Michaels sought an energy efficiency solution, and the Federal Government's National Solar Schools Program (NSSP) grant provided the means to adopt a system.
SOLUTION
St Michaels selected Solgen Energy to provide and install an energy solution, the project was fully funded under the NSSP.
Solgen Energy managed the process from the outset, with the initial paperwork, to managing the occupational health and safety requirements, through to the installation over three days during the school holidays, to the final hand-over.
Today, the 22 solar panels gleam on the tiled roof of the front classroom building, a visible reminder to students and to the visiting parishioners on a Sunday of the environmental initiatives the school is undertaking.
BENEFITS
St Michaels school community endeavours to provide an environment that nurtures and educates its students and their families through its green initiatives. The solar energy system will provide these and other ongoing benefits including:
- educational outcomes for students though the system's educational student IT interface, recording real time energy generation statistics
- the annual generation of approximately 8 Megawatt hours of electricity
- the annual prevention of about 7.5 tonnes of greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere, or the equivalent of removing a car from the road for more than one year
- addressing climate change and raising awareness of renewable energy in the community
TESTIMONIAL
"We selected Solgen Energy on the strength of their professionalism and enthusiasm. They managed the safety issues during the installation and were happy to fit in with our timetable during the school holidays."
Mrs Irena Blinkhorn, Principal, St Michaels Nowra
