PINE BUSH – The Buildings and Grounds Committee for the Pine Bush School District is going to present a plan soon to the Board of Education for a 25 kilowatt photovoltaic installation on the roof of the high school.

Jim Barrett, who heads the committee, says, "After the presentation by Damani and Sun at one of our meetings, we did a site survey. The district is replacing part of the roof and that could be the perfect opportunity for something like this."

A 25 kilowatt installation would cost $211,000. Of that cost, NYSERDA would rebate $125,000, leaving the district to find $86,000 for the project. However, with electricity costing about 15 cents a kilowatt today, and quite likely to cost even more in the future, the project would more than pay for itself over its lifetime.

"Based on the 15 cents a kilowatt rate in our region today," says Jim Barrett, "over a 25 year period there would be a savings of $196,000."

Barrett also notes that, "there's a good possibility of finding additional grant money. The New York SMART program helps you find opportunities like that."

This is all very interesting when you consider that the district currently pays about $784,000 a year for its electricity. Anything that cuts into that bill can only be good for taxpayers.

Barrett explains that the committee is "developing the scope of the work for this particular project — basically what's it going to do and how's it going to pay us back.

"We know that power rates are not likely to go down, and if they go up, then the savings from a project like this will come more quickly too."

James Starr, who is also on both the school board and Buildings and Grounds Committee, adds that, "new technologies are coming out in this area all the time. So, before we went with something we would have to take a look to see exactly what's available. And the best thing is that the new stuff is smaller and cheaper."

Starr works in the electricity supply field. When asked if he thought we were on the verge of some dramatic shifts in electricity supply he says, "Absolutely. We're on the verge of changing the way we deal with all fuel sources. We're going to have to move on from the fossil fuels and we're going to have to develop solar and geothermal. This has to be the future."

Starr and Barrett also stress the educational value of the project.

"One of our goals, of course," says Starr, "is showing the children that you're working with the environment to provide electricity. The big thing to remember here is very simple: sunlight is free."

Barrett agrees that there's an educational opportunity here. "We'd also like to get some hands-on training out of this and involve the technology students. So that could be a factor in a choice of supplier, eventually."