Solar Electricity + Solar Cooking = Atascadero School
Story submitted by Chris Balogh, Principal
The teachers and students at San Gabriel Road Elementary School in Atascadero, California have solar energy working on school grounds in two different ways.
First, we applied to the PG&E Solar Schools Program and received a grant for a 1 kW solar electricity or photovoltaic (photo means light and voltaic means electricity) system at San Gabriel. The “solar on a stick” is up and working, and last month we held a ribbon cutting to celebrate the installation. We are reducing our electricity bill from PG&E, but that is not the main purpose of this solar electric system. We are creating data that the students and teachers can look at and download as part of their science and math studies. This is what we call our solar electricity project.
But then we added a new type of solar energy project. PG&E donated a solar oven to us. The oven uses the heat from the sun to cook food that we put in the oven. There is no electricity. This solar cooker can be taken miles out into the forest and, if it is placed correctly facing the sun, it will work just as well at cooking food as the oven in your kitchens at home. It may not be as fast as your microwave, but the food can be cooked and it is perfectly safe to eat. (You must remember, however, to take the same precautions to make sure any raw food is properly handled and stored and completely cooked just like you would at home.)
Our plan is to use the solar cooker to make treats for the students and to help our entire school understand that solar energy not only comes in the form of electricity, but it also comes in the form of heat.
Solar thermal heating (thermal means heat) is important because many parts of our community can be heated using solar energy. For example, the inside of our buildings can be heated with solar thermal heating systems and the hot water we use to wash our hands, clean our food, and wash our clothes can be created from solar thermal water heating systems. There are many solar thermal heating and water heating systems already on rooftops around California.
We feel it is important that our students understand this aspect of solar energy, and what better ways for the kids to learn that the sun can provide us with heat than to have them make a batch of cookies, cook chili, or bake a cake using nothing but solar thermal heat? These projects make science and math fun and tasty. How much easier it is to practice the science of finding the sunniest spot at school when students get to see the results in the oven? How much easier it is to learn math by calculating the time it will take for cookies to bake?