Solar comes to Napa schools

Teachers tend to get most of the credit or blame for the learning that takes place in a classroom but there are others who play a significant, although seldom noticed, role in students success.

Among these behind-the-scenes people are the facilities employees at the Napa Valley Unified School District who make sure school children spend their days in buildings that are safe, comfortable and cost-effective.

This year, as soon as school was out for summer break, they began installing solar panels at Napa High School, Vintage High School and the Napa Education Center in their phase one plan. Phase two, beginning next year, will include solar at more schools to make buildings more cost effective, officials said.

With energy prices soaring, cost-effective means energy-efficient but upgrading facilities for energy efficiency can be costly. When it is necessary to spend money to save money, what is an organization to do?

They can turn to Sustainable Napa County, a nonprofit, for help, suggests Napa Valley Unified School District maintenance and construction supervisor, Walt Blevins, who became the districts first energy and operations manager as of July 1.

Sustainable Napa County, through a special fund created by the Gasser Foundation, provides nonprofit organizations with a grant to cover the gap between any cost of upgrades and the available PG&E rebates and incentives. This way, the cost to the nonprofit is zero, and the nonprofit begins seeing a positive return right away, according to Jeri Gill, chief executive of Sustainable Napa County.

For the past four years, Blevins and his team have been working closely with Sustainable Napa County on energy saving projects for the school district.

The facilities management team at NVUSD has continued to excel in finding ways to eliminate overhead, making it possible to use each scarce dollar in their budget for education, Gill said.

In their partnership, they have saved the school district a significant amount of money, and they are taking steps to save even more.

Their group (SNC) has been very good to our district and I would encourage other nonprofits to contact them, Blevins said. Weve accomplished so much. I dont believe wed be as far along without their efforts.

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Solar comes to Napa schools