Bridget Doyle, TribLocal reporter
All systems were go Thursday afternoon as Batavia-based New Edison Energy flipped the switch to deliver power to Clarendon Hills Middle School’s new 40-foot wind turbine.
The turbine, which now stands prominently at the main entrance of the school, came to fruition after about a year of planning, funding and ironing out logistics.
“Every day as the students enter the school, they’ll see the wind turbine,” Principal Griffin Sontag said. “It will be a daily reminder of the possibilities of innovation. We hope it will also inspire them to continue to find new ways to be eco-friendly.”
The entire price tag for the project was about $54,000, with about $46,000 for the wind turbine itself, $5,500 for five electronic teaching boards to accompany the turbine and $2,450 for parking lot lights to keep the front of the school well lit.
A majority of the funding came from the District 181 Foundation, with CHMS Parent Teacher Organization and other district funds covering the remainder of the bill.
Jim Cox, a former CHMS teacher and assistant principal, now works on consulting projects for the district and was the driving force behind the wind turbine project. Now that it’s up and running, Cox said the turbine will be a staple in the school’s science and math curriculums.
“The turbine is recording results and wirelessly delivering 20 different pieces of information to the various teaching boards in our classrooms,” Cox said. “Soon, even parents will be able to go online and monitor how much energy is being produced.”
Though its main purpose is to educate, the wind turbine will also help chip away at the middle school’s energy bill.
On average, CHMS uses 100,000 kilowatt hours per month, said Sue Kamuda, director of buildings and grounds for the district. The new turbine is projected to produce somewhere between 5,000 and 8,000 kilowatt hours per year.
Kamuda said the district currently pays .97 cents per kilowatt-hour on its bill from ComEd. If the wind turbine generates 6,000 kilowatt hours, it will save about $582 per year, she said.
Clarendon Hills Middle School will host a dedication ceremony at 10 a.m. Sept. 24 in front of the wind turbine, and will feature remarks from school officials and a musical performance.
Sontag and Cox both said they want to continue to pursue eco-friendly ideas for the middle school. Cox said he hopes the next projects the district would consider might be adding more solar panels to the roof as well as buying power in bulk from energy wholesalers.
“One day we hope to be a completely energy independent facility,” Sontag said. “But for now, we’re going to celebrate the wind turbine and have a great time.”
bdoyle@tribune.com
Sanity check: $51,000 for a wind turbine that produces $582 per year will recover its initial cost in 87 years, if we naively assume it can be maintained at zero cost. Even if we assume steep growth in the cost of electricity (7% per year) and zero maintenance, the break-even point still is at least several decades, much longer than the equipment will actually survive. Economically this project is unjustifiable, and amounts to $51,000 that no longer can be spent usefully inside the school building on teachers, books, lab equipment, or computers.
Who are the wind turbine’s biggest beneficiaries? Follow the money.
http://straightdope.blogspot.com/
@Rusty 1: “The turbine, which would be installed by Elgin-based New Edison Energy, will cost about $42,000. The District 181 Foundation will cover the lions share of that amount, about $30,000, with the rest collected through fundraising.” This was from a previous piece in the Trib regarding the turbine. In all..the funds were donated, costing the district nothing. Though I agree it is pricey, and a regular person couldn’t afford such a thing to save $500/year.
I am thrilled with this (and wish zoning laws permitted erecting such structures on private property). I was surprised to find the rotating paddles were virtually silent as opposed to conventional wind blades.
Yes, the power generation is small, but as more young people acculturate to the idea that green is good, we’ll see more social, political and commercial/industrial interest in the years to come to increase adoption of ever greater efficient generators of renewable energy.
Having the wind turbine at CHMS will be a good teaching tool. But if they REALLY want to generate some electricity, it should have been placed next to the District 181 Administrative offices. That’s the largest source of hot air in the school district.
It’s a good thing that this seems to be considered more of a science experiment and teaching tool, because saving $600 per year on electric is never going to pay for the $54,000 price tag.