There’s a demand for alternative energy sources, and the savings — to the environment and in costs — that goes with them.
“I think we will start seeing more and more of this technology in the new future,” says Dave Marshall, a technology teacher at Irondequoit High School.
That’s one of the reasons he’s excited about what the West Irondequoit School District is calling its “alternative energy classroom,” which currently includes a solar-powered light pole and, thanks to a grant from the West Irondequoit Foundation, a wind turbine on the district’s Cooper Road campus. The pair of items is located behind Irondequoit High School, 260 Cooper Road, between the stadium field and another multi-purpose field.
“The benefit is that this ‘classroom’ can be used by everyone in the school district,” Marshall said.
“We’re trying to make kids aware of the up and coming trends,” agreed colleague Matt Drahms, who with Marshall is also coadvisor of a one-year-old Alternative Energy Club at the high school.
Upcoming plans include adding an alternative energy component to an electricity class taught by Drahms, and a green technology component to building trades classes.
In the meantime, Marshall’s students are collecting data from the wind turbine and solar light, and new projects are in the works.
Students are currently working on a solar-powered public address system that can used at the district’s Sproule field house, Pinegrove fields or other places that don’t generally have access to a system.
“We used to do the solar race car,” Marshall said, “but there wasn’t any funding for races anymore, so there was nowhere to showcase the work.”
He introduced lessons on alternative fuels for a time, then worked with students on designing and building the solar light, which was installed last year.
A teacher at IHS since 1994, Marshall said he has long had an interest in alternative energy.
“My father in Irondequoit installed a solar system on his house in the late 1970s, and still uses it to this day. If the sun’s out in the winter, he doesn’t have heat on in the house,” Marshall said.
Marshall took all the alternative energy classes he could while studying at SUNY Oswego, and now is sharing what he knows with students.
That includes installing a weather station on top of the district’s maintenance building behind Dake Junior High, to see if the site is viable for wind turbines.
