Sun's Energy Harnessed at Private School

Thursday, September 17, 2009 6:51 AM

(Source: Hernando Today) tracking

By Kyle Martin, Hernando Today, Brooksville, Fla.

Sep. 17--SPRING HILL -- Wednesday was sun day at Wider Horizons school.

Cookies were baking in a solar oven.

A makeshift greenhouse was trapping heat for a potted plant.

And over it all, an impressive array of blue solar panels was keeping the lights on.

The small private school tucked into the heart of Spring Hill opened its doors to the public on Wednesday to celebrate its conversion to solar power.

More than 100 panels have been installed on one of the campus' sloped roofs and will provide power for most of the school. There are only 13 homes in the five counties of the Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative district that use solar power, said David Lambert, manager of member relations for WREC.

For Julie Maglio, co-director of the school, it was an obvious choice.

"We'd rather spend the money on books," she said.

While the school will reap energy savings for years to come, there was no delay on the educational benefits. Teachers of all grades prepared various experiments and projects for the children to learn more about the sun's energy.

Kindergartners and first-graders were already learning about planets, so it fit neatly into teacher Betty Iannone's plans.

"It worked out great for us," she said.

The children proudly belted out songs for classroom visitors about Neptune and Mercury, then filed out into the parking lot to demonstrate their knowledge about orbits.

Nine children holding planet replicas circled a student clutching a paper sun, much to the delight of the parents on hand.

Meanwhile, behind the school, fourth-graders were learning about the sun's power. The students set out sheets of black construction papers on a picnic table outside. The five letters of "solar" were arranged on the paper to see how fast it would fade in five hours.

The children had already tried the experiment on a cloudy day and the results seemed to match Wednesday's trial, when the sun was blazing. For fourth-grade teacher Debra Petters, it was a good example for her students of why sunscreen is always needed.

Not everything went according to plan on Wednesday. A condensation experiment backfired when a cup containing purified water tipped over. But Maglio told the kids not to fret.

"Every experiment has the opportunity to work or not to work," she said. "This is just a learning experience."

Reporter Kyle Martin can be reached at 352-544-5271 or kmartin@hernandotoday.com.

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