Project Journal

The Orangeville Green Power School Project (OGPP) began in February 2006 as collaboration among the Reduce the Juice Project (RTJ), Orangeville Hydro (OH) and a group of teachers from Orangeville District Secondary School (ODSS) and Westside High School (WHS). To prepare the educational foundation for an Orangeville community energy conservation project similar to the Shelburne project the summer before, RTJ proposed building renewable energy systems at each of the schools.

GPP Project Background:

Early discussions began in January of 2006 between the OGPP partners and quickly came to a number of decisions:

• The advanced technical capacity at ODSS meant that the school could handle a more sophisticated project and could do so by the end of the semester.
• The technical capacity at WSS would mean a smaller project and would probably take more time to reach completion.
• A mobile installation - an energy trailer - would suit the needs of all of the partners. A trailer could be used during the school year at either school for educational applications, during the summer months it could be used to support the RTJ community energy conservation initiatives and Orangeville Hydro could use the Trailer at community events as an educational and promotional tool.

As a consequence work on the Energy Trailer began. RTJ agreed to provide a number of designs for the consideration of the partners, to search and mobilize the parts and materials required for the design chosen and to manage the project. Randy Dryburgh, who had managed the CDDHS renewable energy system installation and Stephen Mooney an electrical engineer from the University of Waterloo agreed to be the RTJ Project Managers. Matthew Fairlie, Chairman of the RTJ board along with his team of designers developed design options and in a short time a trailer platform and drawing was agreed upon. OH agreed to finance the project, Tim Murray, ODSS Vice Principal supported the building of the Trailer at ODSS and Dennis Weishar, Head of the Technical Department at ODSS agreed to provide space, technical resources and student assistance for the project.

Construction:

An appropriate trailer was purchased and the installation of the renewable components took place during March, April and May. Thanks to the experience and direction of Stephen Mooney, and the help of many students and teachers in the Technical department, the trailer was adapted to accept the solar and wind systems. Students from Richard Alexander's Welding class built steel frames to hold the solar panels, students from Ian Budgell's Woodworking class helped to modify the interior to handle the batteries and other components of the system and students from Dennis Weishar's classes helped install the solar panels and the wind turbine.

The Energy Trailer was completed by the end of May and was open for public viewing at the provincial High School Electric Car Rally hosted by ODSS on June 3 and 4. The ODSS Robotics and Engineering Team also modified their entry by adding a Reduce the Juice solar panel to their vehicle (see the media coverage in the Orangeville Citizen here<link to 051106 Citizen.pdf>)

During the rest of June the Trailer was toured by a number of teachers and students at ODSS to make teachers and students aware that it would be available to them as an educational resource after the summer.

The RTJ Team of university and high school students made extensive use of the Trailer during the summer residential Energy Conservation Project. Their first event was "Meet the Team" public meeting early in July, at Orangeville Hydro, to announce the beginning of the project. The Trailer was featured after the meeting and the students gave tours to those in attendance, including Ontario's Chief Energy Conservation Officer, Peter Love and Drew Brown, Mayor of Orangeville.

The trailer also made appearances at several local events including the Dufferin County 125th Anniversary Festival.

After the summer, the Energy Trailer will be on display in front Orangeville Hydro. Orangeville Hydro uses the Trailer at community events as an educational and promotional tool. During the school year Science, Geography Technical and Business teachers will use the Trailer as part of their curriculum to teach skills and knowledge related to energy concepts, renewable energy technologies and the costs and benefits of energy systems.

During this time a teachers at WSS - Dave Knight (Design Tech.), Mike Pinkney (Geography), supported by Darryl Kirkland (Principal) - began planning a Solar Tracker Project to test the efficacy of a fixed solar system versus a system which is able to track the sun. The project would be small in scale, and would take at least one more school year to compete, but it has the potential to closely involve students in the planning and installation of the system. Stay tuned for updates on this project.