Marin Academy Eco-Council

Energy

Marin Academy, like many other institutions, spends a considerable amount of financial resources on maintaining its plant. Included in this amount is the expense of electricity and natural gas.

In the spring of 2006, the Energy Committee of the Eco-Council began the process of looking at the expenditure and expense of energy at Marin Academy, and investigated whether PV solar panels might be an option for the school. Partway into that project, the committee also realized that Marin Academy’s buildings were not all operating at peak energy efficiency, and the committee began to explore ways for improvement in that arena as well.

Sample Work:
The following is a rough outline of the methods employed to date, and the outcomes.

Spring 2006: Launch the energy committee. Invited SPG solar to campus to investigate whether PV solar is an option on campus.

Spring 2006: Invited Dawn Weitz from Marin County to campus to speak about solar possibilities and energy efficiency measures

September 2006: Invited two other solar companies, Borrego and Marin Solar, to visit campus and write up proposals for PV solar

October 2006: Invited Tim Rosenfield and Dana Armanino from Marin County for an initial walk-through of the MA campus to target energy efficiency upgrades. See Energy Efficiency section below for more details.

November 2006 – February 2007: Continued conversation with solar companies about proposals, and investigated different financing options.

February 2007: Conversations with MA alum Michael Wheeler ’95, who is currently working at the CPUC, about energy efficiency options and ideas.

March 2007: Invited the Small Business Alliance to campus to conduct a formal energy audit of Thatcher Hall (free of charge)

March 2007: Met with both finalist solar companies and PPA providers

How can others get involved?
There are still meetings with the solar companies and PPA providers. If you are interested, please contact Mark Stefanski.