Solar power lesson wows Stockbridge students

From a story by Kathy Walsh Nufer in the Appleton Post-Crescent:

STOCKBRIDGE — On a cloudy, windswept afternoon, 19 Stockbridge School eighth-graders clustered around desk lamps that substituted for the sun in their science lab, turned mini-solar panels to the light and waited.

It didn't take long to get results as the propellers attached to the panels began to twirl. "Whoa!" marveled one 13-year-old. "Look at it go."

The term renewable energy never felt so real, and that's just what teacher Mike Fitzgerald hoped for when he began teaching a hands-on curriculum offered through Wisconsin Pubic Service Community Foundation.

The foundation installed a two-kilowatt solar-electric system on the roof of the school's new gym in August. It provides enough electricity to power three classrooms, saving about $200 annually in energy costs.

Stockbridge also received the renewable energy curriculum as part of the SolarWise for Schools program.

"It's very popular," said Chip Bircher, renewable energy product manager for WPS. "It's been going since 1996. Our customers contribute to it and we use the funds to select three to four schools per year where we can install the panels and provide them with the curriculum package."

Forty-one schools now participate, including schools in Brillion, Stockbridge, Waupaca and Wrightstown.

Stockbridge Supt. Dave Moscinski said he welcomes the energy conservation awareness students will gain.

"We're doing this so our kids — future scientists and engineers and homeowners — can see the potential for all this and see what options are available to them," he said.