Bright idea: Middle school is valley’s first to use power of sun

Erica Johnson

Monday, July 30, 2001 | 11:01 a.m.

Work will begin this year at a Las Vegas middle school to keep students cool with a hot resource: the sun.

The Clark County School District, working with a local solar company, will convert Grant Sawyer Middle School, 5450 Redwood St. off Rainbow Boulevard, from air conditioning to a solar-powered cooling system as part of a larger effort to reduce skyrocketing electric bills.

"My goal for Grant Sawyer is twofold," Patrick Herron, assistant superintendent of facilities for the Clark County School District, said. "It will save us a tremendous amount on energy costs, and we can use it to implement the same system at other locations."

Construction on the system, which is expected to save the school about $143,000 each year, will begin in early fall. Work is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

The project will cost the school district an estimated $1.7 million to install, said Gary Bailey, an architect with Duke Solar, the company installing the system.

The solar school is part of a comprehensive energy saving plan created by Herron and a team of energy experts. The plan suggests innovative ways to cut energy costs in schools throughout the district, so that the money can be channeled back into educational programs.

"The district has a history of being innovative in many areas, including architecture and design, while concentrating on being cost-effective," Superintendent Carlos Garcia said. "This project makes sense for our climate, and we look forward to the results."

The idea came, Herron said, after officials reviewed utility bills and discovered that in 1999 the district spent more than $15 million per year on annual electrical costs at its 227 facilities in the Las Vegas Valley. The plan was approved by the Sschool Board on June 14.

Electricity made up more than 75 percent of utility costs, with water and natural gas combined making up the other 25 percent.

About 5,000 solar collectors -- narrow glass tubes with steel interiors -- will cover nearly 40 percent of the roof, Bailey said. When the sun hits the collectors, the heat will be directed into a storage tank filled with water.

Once the water is heated, it will be transferred to a chiller. The chiller will use the heat energy, along with natural gas, to cool the water. The cold water in turn will cool the air, which will be dispersed through the building's vents, just as normal air conditioning would be.

Because the system works using radiation from the sun, Bailey said, it will work even on cloudy or overcast days. "The great thing about the desert is that you get maximum radiation year-round," he said.

In the winter the system will function in a similar way. Instead of the water being transferred to a chiller to create cool air, it will be transferred to a boiler, or heat exchanger, to create warm air.

Because the collectors will lie flat on the building's roof, the school will look the same from the outside.

The company chose Grant Sawyer primarily because the school's construction fits a prototype of most schools in the valley, Bailey said. The school is also already equipped with chillers, which were soon to be replaced by the district. The chillers were once used to produce cold air using electricity.

"This is an option for a lot of different businesses in Las Vegas," Bailey said. "The great thing about Las Vegas is the level of radiation we get from the sun. It just baffles me that no one's using it. It's a great free resource."

Herron said the proposal, although unconventional, was met with interest and enthusiasm from School Board members, who were frustrated with rising energy costs.

"The current budget crunch was feeding the idea," Herron said. "This is not for experimentation. We're trying to balance our budget. So it was a very practical idea, and the board understood that."

Herron, who moved to Southern Nevada four years ago from North Carolina, said he got the idea from similar designs implemented at schools in the Wake County Public School System in Raleigh, N.C., during the late '90s. Herron served as assistant superintendent of facilities there.

During Herron's tenure, some Wake County schools had skylights installed in the ceilings. The sunlight bounced off metal sheets strategically placed on the roof and into classrooms. This cut electricity costs by 25 percent and allowed students to benefit from natural light.

Herron said the district's next solar project will be Madison Elementary School, 1030 J. St., between Washington and Owens avenues.

The district plans to demolish the existing school and build a two-story, solar-powered school using daytime light on the same property, Herron said. The new school will be renamed Wendell P. Williams Elementary School. Construction is expected to be completed by fall 2002.

The main goal of the energy conservation plan, Herron said, is to reduce the electricity used during Nevada Power Co.'s peak hours, from 1 to 7 p.m., when schools are billed a surcharge of $9.10 per kilowatt hour for energy use.

At certain times of the day, Herron said, usually between 2:30 and 4 p.m., this surcharge can amount to more than $12,000 above normal fees.

The district already made some big changes to avoid those high-cost hours. Air conditioning in nine-month schools has been turned off this summer at 1:30 p.m. and remains off until about 7 a.m.

The district agreed to accommodate schools sponsoring summer programs during those times, Herron said, but limits the air conditioning to the areas of the school where the programs are being held.

The plan was one of several from an energy task force that includes participants from Nevada Power, Southwest Gas and the Nevada State Energy Office.

Other energy-reducing steps the plan suggests include installing classroom lights and vending machines with motion detectors and turning computers and office machines off when they are not in use.