THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 24, 1996 TAG: 9603240047
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CONWAY LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
Northampton County may not be as well known as Norfolk. But it's starting to make a name for itself.
Impressed with the success of Northampton County High School-East's electric automotive program, several private companies and state agencies are investing in a $10,000 solar charging station to place on campus.
The program is one of about four being developed statewide - but it's the only one in the northeastern area of the Tarheel State.
School officials and North Carolina State University plan to build a structure incorporating 2-by-4-foot solar panels that will convert solar power into electric energy.
The solar charging station is expected to produce 1.7 kilowatts continuously. Among its customers will be Northampton staff and students recharging what they hope will someday be a fleet of electric cars.
``You could run a house on the energy we'll have in there. In fact, people around the world do,'' said Eric Ryan, a physics teacher and major promoter of the solar station.
Ryan, along with vocational instructor Harold Miller and Northampton students, hope to change the public's dependency on fossil fuels.
By having on-site instruction, future generations may become less intimidated by, and more aware of, alternative energy sources, they say.
Miller likes to call this proposal and the school's already successful electric auto program the ``no pollution solution.''
``The true test in this program is whether we're going to be able to get people to change their environment,'' Miller said.
The school's solar charging station has also received grants from Toyota Tapestry, Aetna Insurance and Teach For America - the national program that brought Ryan, a University of California-Berkeley graduate, to Northampton four years ago.
The solar panels will be donated by the N.C. State University solar center.
A $44,000 grant from the state Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources will be split among several sites.
``The main thing that I'm excited about is that you're going to able to demonstrate to students and the community the possibility of solar energy,'' Ryan said.
Solar charging stations also are being set up in Charlotte and Johnson County, among other sites. But the Northampton project is different - and not just because of its isolated location.
`We're the only ones who have written grants for energy education,'' Ryan said. ``The other ones are just more or less filling stations.'' by CNB