New schools in Hampshire might be powered by wind

How can Community Unit District 300 cut down on the use of fossil fuels at its Ketchum Road campus in Hampshire? The answer may be blowing in the wind.

District 300 is looking at a proposal that would power the new Gary D. Wright Elementary School and the new Hampshire High School with electricity generated by a 400-foot-tall wind turbine.

The wind turbine is the latest energy-saving idea to come out of the workshop of district consultant Johnson Controls and District 300 Energy Management Coordinator David Ulm.

District officials say the technologies implemented by Ulm and Johnson Controls have saved the district more than $1 million in energy costs since 2004.

The district would not see energy cost savings from the wind turbine until at least 13 years after the turbine were installed, Ulm estimates.

It would take at least that long for the district to recover the significant investment of building and maintaining the turbine -- an estimated $6 million to $8 million.

But the schools' use of fossil fuels would be substantially curtailed and the turbine, the district hopes, would eventually be cheaper than electricity.

The District 300 school board was enthusiastic about the idea when Ulm presented it to the board this month.

"We're actually pretty excited about it," board President Joe Stevens said this week. "It's really a pretty interesting idea."

Stevens also has asked Johnson Controls to look at the possibility of using turbines to power schools throughout the district.

There are a couple of reasons this may not be feasible. Kane County doesn't allow multiple turbines on one site and a turbine must be installed so that if it were to fall it would not land on any structure, Ulm said.

While there is plenty of open space at the Ketchum Road campus, few of the district's other schools have enough open land to accommodate a turbine.

The Hampshire turbine needs considerable research before the district and the school board will pursue the idea, district officials say.

Johnson Controls plans to study the site to see if there is enough wind to make a turbine feasible. It also will determine the best location, do a cost analysis and identify possible funding sources.

A combination of federal and state grants for energy conservation could cover up to 10 percent of the cost of installing and maintaining the turbine, Ulm said.

Ulm says he hopes the school board will approve the one-year study at its Nov. 12 meeting. The study will cost $55,500, paid out of the district's operations and maintenance fund, but Ulm plans to apply for a $25,000 grant to offset the cost.

If all goes according to plan, the turbine could be up and running as early as spring 2009.