Energy Initiatives

Colorado Prep School Goes Solar

• By Scott Aronowitz
• 03/08/10

An ongoing effort by a Colorado school to "deepen its students' appreciation for the world around them" has led to its being given a fully engineered, fully financed solar panel array to meet the school facility's energy needs.

Colorado company Bella Energy has partnered with international solar energy provider Conergy to provide Kent Denver School with a 1,170-panel, 205-kilowatt solar energy system that, according to a spokesperson, prevents over half a million pounds of CO₂ from being emitted into the atmosphere each year.

A spokesperson for Conergy explained that the company's model for "developing medium to large scale solar projects expands the capabilities of local photovoltaic integrators, while providing greater access to renewable energy for end users exactly like Kent Denver School."

Over the years, the private prep school, which enrolls more than 650 students in grades 6 through 12, has supported sustainability projects among its students as a way of encouraging them to think about energy production and consumption and, consequently, about the ecological impacts of such activities. "Our students can now see how their smaller solar projects (such as a golf cart and a marine underwater camera in the Florida Keys) can be scaled up to a commercially viable level," said Todd Horn, Kent Denver's head of school.