Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 5, 1990 TAG: 9007060064
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By Ann Hofbauer Special Writer
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The children attending Woodlawn School in Salem will enter adulthood in an age of energy alternatives, but they are already getting practical exposure to one of those.
John Lensch, owner of RISE (Roanoke Independent Sources of Energy) is building a solar greenhouse on the front of their school at 2005 E. Main St.
The primary purpose of the greenhouse will be to provide daytime heat for the school and, it is hoped, reduce the heating bills that have been "killing the school," Lensch said. However, the traditional use of a greenhouse will not be overlooked. Woodlawn students will also be trying their hands at growing plants.
Lensch began construction of the greenhouse in January after being awarded a $4,000 grant last fall through the Department of Energy Appropriate Technology Small Grants Program. His grant was one of 15 selected out of a submission list of about 600 proposals, he said.
DOE grant application guidelines required that the proposed projects have commercial potential and educational purpose. Because Lensch's business focuses on alternative energy systems, his proposal satisfied the first requirement.
And he pointed out that putting the greenhouse on a school has obvious educational applicability, satisfying the second requirement. At Woodlawn the children are in school while construction is under way.
"I want them to see the construction. The object is that they learn about the greenhouse while it is going up. They're not going to remember how to build a solar greenhouse, but they will have firsthand experience with a heating system of a non-conventional nature," he said. Lensch also believes the greenhouse will demonstrate the workability of a solar heating system to students' parents and the community.
The lean-to type greenhouse, 12 feet by 32 feet, is being built on the south side of the school. Lensch plans to complete construction soon and expects to schedule some open houses for demonstration purposes.
He figures that technically, based on the school's electricity consumption figures, the school should see reductions in heating bills of at least 25-30 percent.
However, he said the reduction may be closer to 50 percent in actuality because the heat is needed during the day, rather than day and night.
Here's how it works. When a certain temperature is reached in the greenhouse (75 degrees or 80 degrees on a sunny day) blowers will come on automatically to blow the warm air into the school. When the school thermostat is satisfied, a second set of blowers will blow heat into the rock storage area beneath the floor of the greenhouse, to transmit some heat during the night.
Lensch said the greenhouse won't get as hot as a regular greenhouse, due to grading of the windows to maximize winter sun, and shading from a roof overhang to minimize the more direct rays of summer sun. And exhaust fans will keep the greenhouse from getting too hot.
"A properly built system is energy efficient in both summer and winter. As long as the sun is shining, they'll have heat," Lensch said.
After construction is completed, Lensch will begin monitoring operation of the system to collect data required in the grant. Likewise the Woodlawn students will be collecting data and keeping their own records.
Construction of a solar greenhouse during school hours adapts naturally into the non-regimented program at Woodlawn School. The curriculum follows set patterns, but is not confined by rigid scheduling, and the students are expected to assume some of the responsibility for their own learning, explained Peg Dearing, director of the school.
The program is aimed at the overall development of the children and takes into consideration the factors in the world that will be affecting their lives.
Thus, the solar greenhouse is a timely project in light of the likelihood that all the children are going to have to figure out alternative sources of energy when they get older, Dearing said.
"We kept wishing there was a way to get a grant for a solar greenhouse and one day John [Lensch] told us he'd applied for a grant," she said. Lensch's two children have attended Woodlawn School for four years and his wife teaches social studies and history there two afternoons a week.
Dearing said the children have been studying solar energy under Maureen Julian , science teacher, who also teaches chemistry at Hollins College.
Most of the study will probably go on next year. The kids will figure out British thermal units and calendar days, recording the temperature outside and inside the building to see how the solar greenhouse does against the kilowatt hours on the electric bills, Dearing said.
by CNB