Center for Families

 The Center for Families, a Madison, Wisconsin organization that prevents child abuse by strengthening families, hosts the third Renewable School project sponsored by the Vote For Change Renewable Energy Project. The project began During the 2004 Vote for Change tour, when artists such as Stone Gossard, Pearl Jam, REM, Bonnie Raitt and the Dave Matthews Band discussed ways in which they could highlight important global issues and simultaneously provide support to local organizations already working hard to promote community well-being.

BEF was able to commission a 4-kilowatt PV system that now provides the Center for Families with more than 5,000-kilowatt hours of pollution-free electricity each year. Energy monitoring provided to the Center by the Solar 4R Schools program  connected students to the real-time performance data from their PV system at the time of the project. Students and educators nationwide could chart, graph and analyze the system's performance data for educational purposes. A touchscreen kiosk located within the Center allowed visitors to interact with the real-time system performance data while learning key facts about the science and benefits of renewable energy.