Salt Lake City's Rowland Hall goes green

SALT LAKE CITY — Going green is the new wave in education, and 73 public schools across the state have solar panels being installed.

Salt Lake City's Rowland Hall became one of the first private schools in the state to become part of the trend Thursday, when the school began installation of 48 solar panels.

"In terms of how much it's going to offset our power, it's a small amount. It's less than 5 percent," said Mary Jacquin, director of sustainability at Rowland Hall.

"What we're just hoping to accomplish is to educate and set an example. It's a great learning opportunity for these kids."

Every teacher on the campus will have computer access for their students so that they can monitor all the data that comes from the solar panels.

"There's a vast amount of data they'll be able to manipulate," Jacquin said. "Like, this amount of power represents x number of cars being taken off the road, or x amount of carbon being produced."

They'll also be able to monitor how much power is generated on each day, and how it is affected by the weather.

"Not only will that data be available to all the teachers and students," Jacquin said, "but there will also be a panel available here in the lobby so that anyone coming into the school can just take a look at that information."

The panels are part of a project that has been in the works for two years. The school has several other sustainability programs in the works.

— Elise Bassett