Rosemont School District #78 Celebrates Solar For Schools On Earth Day

Online, April 24, 2012 (Newswire.com) - As part of EcoVision Sustainable Learning Center's 'Solar for Schools' Community Green Challenge program, the Rosemont School District received a 1kW solar panel system. The non-profit, EcoVision SLC, coordinated all financing in partnership through Community Green Energy (CGE), Cost Containment International and the Green Leaf Inn.

Installed in August 2011, the school has integrated the system into the curriculum, with students learning how to use the onsite panel display to track energy generated and calculate the reduction in the school's carbon footprint.

In today's celebration, teacher Ann Christenson demonstrated the various software programs and how to access historical data and analyze the given information.

"The kids are very interested in renewable energy," said Christenson, "And the fact that we have these solar panels at this school enables them to work with solar and gives them a sense of empowerment as individual kids who can make an impact on future generations in regard to the environment."

Superintendent/Principal Kevin Anderson was on hand to lend his support along with Fritz Kreiss, co-founder of EcoVision Sustainable Learning Center and Hans Hermann, President of Cost Containment.

"The solar panels will provide the school with more than 1.3 megawatt hours of free electricity annually for the next 30 years," said Kreiss. "But the greatest value comes in making green energy an everyday working, interactive reality in these students' lives. EcoVision SLC is proud to be able to help bring 'Solar for Schools' to this area."

EcoVision Sustainable Learning Center provided the solar panels, all of the equipment and the installation, valued at $6500, using funds generated by three main sponsors; Cost Containment, Green Leaf Inn, and Community Green Energy.

"Sixty-five hundred dollars is the price of a small, demonstration solar system," said Herrmann. "School districts don't have that kind of funding lying around. With EcoVision SLC, we saw a great opportunity to serve our community by helping to introduce solar power to the school district."

"With EcoVision SLC's 'Solar for Schools' program," said Kreiss, "businesses like our sponsors can work together to help make green energy a reality in a place that will have a profound impact on future generations. That's a great thing to be able to do."

Cost Containment is a utility consulting firm, handling procurement and management of energy, telecom, credit card processing and energy efficiencies to help businesses save money and control expenses. www.c2intl.com

Green Leaf Inn, located in Delavan, WI, is designed to be the sustainable building of the future; a comfortable luxury retreat amid a living laboratory and catalog of new technology, products, and providers. This will be the first net zero and regenerative energy hotel to be built in North America. www.thegreenleafinn.com
Community Green Energy is an energy project developer and finance group whose goal is to promote and develop renewable energy projects and Green Energy Initiatives nationwide. www.communitygreenenergy.com

Eco-Vision Sustainable Learning Center, a 501 (C) (3) non-profit corporation located in Lake Geneva, WI, promotes renewable energy, energy efficiency, green building and sustainable living through education and demonstration. Their goals are to promote and develop scalable solutions for renewable energy and sustainable development, support renewable energy projects though the purchase of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), and make sustainable living an integral part of American life. www.ecovisionslc.org