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Thursday, April 24, 2008

Schools Consider Wind Energy

By Lee Ross /
Mountain View Telegraph
      The Moriarty-Edgewood School District is toying with green energy.
       At its April 8 board meeting, Mike Harris of Harris Consultants presented the results of some preliminary research to the council. The research included how long it might take for a wind turbine with a 30-year lifespan to pay for itself. He said it may take 22 years and save the school about $114,000 over its lifespan.
       He said the estimates are based on a roughly 100-foot wind turbine costing less than $200,000.
       He added that the 22-year estimate used conservative numbers for the amount of wind and he said, in the future, there likely will be a greater savings as the cost of energy goes up. It may take only 15 years to pay off the turbine, he said.
       “Consider this as a possibility,” Harris told the school board.
       He also pointed out that there may be clean-energy grants available to fund the project, and there is an added incentive to investing in wind power for the school.
       “You’d be taking capital money to save operational money,” Superintendent Karen Couch pointed out.
       The basic idea is that, because of the way the school is funded, using money on infrastructure that will save on recurring costs, such as electricity, could free money to be spent on other recurring costs, such as salaries.
       School Board President Todd McCarty said another potential advantage of using wind energy at the school could be using it as a teaching tool.
       He also asked about restrictions that may interfere with putting a wind turbine up and mentioned the Moriarty Municipal Airport not far from the school.
       “We don’t have all the answers,” Couch said. “The potential is there … it’s well worth our ability to explore our options.”
       In other business, the board approved the sale of $7.5 million in bonds, the first from a $18 million bond election held in February. The bonds were sold at a 2.958 percent interest rate, and the money will be used for capital improvement projects in all eight schools in the district.
   

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