By ESTHER SMITH
News staff writer
June 6, 2007 

When Hood River Middle School teacher Michael Becker flipped the power switch May 18 on the new solar panels for its greenhouse project, nothing happened.

That’s the point.

“The great thing about a solar generator is: There’s no smoke; no noise,” he said. “You turn it on and it’s like — wow! — Nothing!” he said.

Within a few minutes the electric meter was starting to move, registering the first of the 1,280 kilowatt hours per year it is expected to generate.

The Solar Electric Demonstration Project is just one phase of the school’s greenhouse project, which was proposed by Michael Becker in March 2005, endorsed by Principal Bob Dais, and approved by the Hood River County School Board.

The greenhouse project will teach lessons in diversity, water, food, energy and waste through hands-on activities. The solar array will provide energy for the greenhouse, and lessons for the students in developing an annual energy budget and striving to operate the project on a “net zero” basis.

Though the greenhouse project is still lacking a greenhouse, students have been learning at every stage of the game, from the initial planning and design to development of native arboretum, and now the latest phase, the solar panels.

The solar electric (photovoltaic, or PV) generator was a hoped-for future addition to the project that came along much earlier than hoped.

“It basically fell in my lap,” Becker said. “I got a call from a guy at Portfolio 21 (a global equity mutual fund), who said he had heard about our project and had funds to put toward a solar project. They worked through the Bonneville Environmental Foundation to give us a $20,000 grant.

“We had planned to start working on the greenhouse next, so this has sort of moved things around schedule-wise, but that’s ok,” he said. “We’ll work on funding for the greenhouse next fall.”

Additional funding came from Doug’s Sports, which donated proceeds from its annual Warren Miller ski film showing. Tod LeFevre and Scott Sorenson, of Common Energy, a local renewable energy company, donated labor for the installation.

The first phase of the Outdoor Classroom Project was a native plant arboretum that sits just east of the music building. The area is too shady for a vegetable garden, so Becker’s class decided to plant things that were indigenous to the area.

“Now the arboretum needs to be cut back; but we planted all those things as sticks, three years ago,” Becker said. “When we first planted them it was like, wow — I wonder if anything is going to grow here? So it’s really nice to think about having to trim.”

Volunteers from Columbia Riverkeeper spent a recent weekend building bioswales in the entry area — between the school’s music and library buildings — to capture and utilize water runoff for the gardens, then donated and planted native edibles in the area. Retaining walls were made of “urbanite,” chunks of concrete that once made up LeFevre’s driveway, and which would have otherwise ended up in a landfill.

“It’s a great way to put back to use the incredible amount of embodied energy concrete holds,” Becker said.

Columbia Riverkeeper has also donated a 1,500-gallon tank to be situated near the roof line of the library, where it will catch and store rain water, and a gravity-fed irrigation system to carry the water to the garden.

Right now Becker’s class is working on a food garden. The school has a symbiotic relationship with the Gorge Grown Network, which hosts a farmers market every Thursday at the school, and in return is supporting the students in their garden projects by providing rubber boots and other supplies.

“We’ll have stuff to sell this year at the farmers market,” Becker said. “And during the market our students will be here giving tours. That’s the whole idea: To make this a demonstration garden where people can come learn about bioswales, solar power, native arboretums and sustainability.”

The students, in turn, will have their lessons reinforced by sharing what they’ve learned with others. Three of Becker’s students, Eric Nance, Nick Cooper and Eric Hamada, are already eager to share what they know.

“It’s fun because it’s hands-on — you’re outside doing things and not sitting in a classroom,” said Eric Hamada. “We got to see the process of how they made the solar panels and learned how long it will be until it pays off.”

“It puts it in perspective,” said Eric Nance, “because that little panel only makes enough electricity to power a fraction of an American home. But in Germany, it would power three-fourths of a home, and in Japan, a whole house.”

“And in Iraq, it would power eight homes,” added Nick Cooper.

The boys said they are working on putting in a couple of ponds, “for scientific research,” and looking forward to this fall when — hopefully — the greenhouse will be built.

There has been tremendous support from individuals and businesses in the community, in both donations and volunteer efforts, from the Soil Conservation District’s help with the original plans to the promised donation of glass for the greenhouse from Cardinal Industrial Glass.

“It makes it a lot easier to get grants when you have this kind of support,” Becker said. “We can say, ‘Here’s what we’ve done so far, and here’s what we’d like to do, and we’d like you to be the one to tip the thing over the hump to make it possible.’”