Skyview Junior High School

As a Renewable School, Skyview Junior High School in Bothell, Washington is building a dedicated community of renewable energy educators, generating clean energy through their 3.45-kilowatt photovoltaic (PV) system, and leveraging the system's performance data as an educational tool to bring energy topics to life in their classrooms.

The PV system installation is the next step in the growing suite of environmental sustainability programs at Skyview. These projects include a 5.5-acre Outdoor Environmental Learning Center with wetlands and forested trails built by students and parents, as well as field studies, environmental grounding projects, individual action projects and sustainability surveys. In addition, students are actively involved with in-school energy conservation and school-wide recycling projects.

The Renewable School project from Solar 4R Schools adds a new dimension to Skyview’s sustainability efforts, helping educators develop well-rounded, knowledgeable, citizen leaders for their community. As part of their Renewable School award, educators within the school received a customized renewable energy teacher training, hands-on science kit materials to augment the school's existing curricula, and complete access to the resources available on the Solar4RSchools.org website.

Energy monitoring services provided to the school connected the live performance data from their PV system to the Energy Exploration Center at Solar4RSchools.org. Students and educators nationwide can chart, graph and analyze the system's performance data for educational purposes. A touchscreen kiosk located within the facility allows employees and visitors to interact with the system's live performance data while learning about the science and benefits of renewable energy.