I have already written about Monticello High School and its strive to be energy efficient, but there is another Illinois school that needs to be heard as well. Bureau Valley High School in Manlius, IL has a 660 kW Vestas wind turbine. The catalyst for the project was the dedication of a hog farmer from Northern Illinois named Keith Bolin. Most folks tend to be racing along through life a little too fast to consider the energy of the natural elements around them, but Bolin could not help but sense the wind energy in the area. The thoughts of his children and grandchildren led him to one conclusion, installing a wind turbine at the local high school.The school district applied for their first grant in July of 2002 and received $20,000 from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation to hire a consultant to review their site. After careful review and study from local Monmouth College, the site was accepted and they received an additional $480,000 in grant money. That accounted for about half of the needed resources, and the rest was acquired through a bank loan and some money from the school’s operation and maintenance fund.
Altogether Bolin expects total revenue for the project to be about $1.6 million. Superintendent Rick Stoeker said that after the first two months it looked as if the project would save the school district approximately $100,000 each year, or as Bolin puts it “two teachers a year.”
"I'm just a dirt hog farmer. I'm not the smartest guy on the block," Bolin said, but "somebody had to take the bull by the horns."
His great volunteer effort is an example of community organizing driven by a meaningful purpose to pursue a concrete tangible result. Bolin’s success came from including the community, the local governments, and business professionals to find a common solution. Many rural schools across America already have access to renewable energy with either wind or solar power. The rest is dedication.
Three other school wind projects are in development in Illinois at:
- Erie Community Unit School District No.1 , Whiteside, Rock Island and Henry counties , IL, 1.2 MW
- Keeneyville School District , Keeneyville , IL, 66 MW
- UPDATE: University of Illinois , Urbana-Champagne , IL, three 1.5 MW turbines - Cancelled
For more information on wind power in Illinois go to http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/astate_template.asp?stateab=il
1 comment:
Unfortunately the U of I cancelled it's windmill project.
Disheartening, but completely understandable given the economy and that those funds will be better spent on energy conservation (REDUCE first, then reuse and recycle).
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