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Gibson
County High School Goes Green
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| Students at
Gibson County High School monitor the output of the solar generating
system located on the school grounds. |
When Jane Pinkerton
wants to teach her physics classes about energy or electricity, chances
are she doesn’t turn to a textbook or a computer program. Instead,
she and her colleagues at Gibson County High School in Dyer, Tennessee,
take their students outside for a hands-on lesson that employs an unusual
new educational resource provided by the Gibson Electric Membership
Corporation (Gibson EMC) and TVA.
The new teaching
tool is a solar-energy system mounted on a canopy over the walkway between
the school’s technical center and its gym. The 20-kilowatt solar
photovoltaic system was installed by TVA and Gibson EMC last fall to
help promote TVA’s Green Power Switch initiative.
Through Green Power
Switch, TVA and local public power companies combine forces to produce
electricity from cleaner, renewable sources like wind, sunlight, and
landfill gas. This green power is then added to the Valley’s power
mix, helping to reduce dependency on traditional energy sources.
Gibson High agreed
to become a host site for the solar-energy system after it was approached
by Gibson EMC. The school offered high visibility and excellent opportunities
for public education, plus the southern orientation and good sun exposure
that would make solar power generation feasible. Jim Acree, Gibson County
School District’s budget and vocational director, jumped at the
chance to locate the solar-energy system at the school.
“We have a
really outstanding and innovative science teacher here, Dr. Pinkerton,
and I knew that having this system at Gibson High would provide a great
opportunity for her to teach the students about solar energy and show
them the benefits of renewable energy sources,” he says. “And
being an old outdoorsman who enjoys the environment as it is, I wanted
to do anything I could to help promote the use of cleaner sources of
energy.”
Here’s how
the Gibson High solar-energy system works. The flat panels mounted on
top of the walkway are photovoltaic (PV) panels, which collect the sun’s
rays. PV systems use semiconductor cells, modules that convert sunlight
directly into electricity. When sunshine strikes a PV panel, some of
the electrons inside the panel acquire more energy and an electric current
is created.
A computer monitor
records the amounts of solar energy received and electrical energy generated
at the site each day, and the results are posted on Green
Power Switch’s Web site.
Along with the
solar-energy system, TVA and Gibson EMC installed a weather station
that reports wind speed, temperature, and rainfall. Acree predicts that
in the coming months, the combined solar-energy and weather system will
be put to use by all the science teachers at the school.
“This system
gives science teachers access to all sorts of information that can be
used to teach the students about electricity, energy, and weather,”
he notes. “We’re so fortunate to have it here at Gibson High.
The system has only been here a short time, but we’ve already had
several schools contact us and say, ‘How do we get one of those?’
I think they’re a little bit jealous because they realize what
a great opportunity we’ve been given here.”
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