Whitney’s future solar panels will resemble the panels currently at Sierra College by the football field. Photo by SHAI NIELSON

The budget is cut, money is short and energy conservation is key to saving some cash, so the school district has the perfect solution: solar panels.

“The primary reason for installing the solar panels is cost savings,” Assistant Superintendent and head of Facilities & Operations Larry Stark said. “The District will be purchasing electrical power from the solar panel company for Whitney High School at a rate lower then what we would be paying PG&E.”

Not only will the panels save the district money, but the service to install the panels by Indoor Environmental Service, Inc. (IES), will have no cost to the district and the company will also maintain the panels.

“We will just be purchasing electricity from the company,” Stark said.

According to their website, IES “provides design, engineering and construction for Facility Solutions, including HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air condition) system applications, service and maintenance, sheet metal fabrication and Facility Solutions projects.”

Basically, IES builds various manufacturing works for clients that range from hotels to health care facilities to schools. (For more information regarding IES, visit their website at http://www.ies-hvac.com/)

The solar panels will be installed this coming summer in the student parking lot by the gymnasium, but will have little effect on the future parking situation.

“There will not be any lost parking spaces,” Stark said. “The only real difference to the parking spaces will be that they will now be in the shade.”

Large metal panels may be hard to imagine in the parking lot, but they are not new to this area’s schools.

“(The panels) will be very similar to the ones installed at the Sierra College football field parking lot on Sierra College Boulevard this past year,” Stark said.

The panels at Sierra College were not installed by IES, but serve the same purpose as the ones to be installed here this summer.

For a better idea of what the panels will look like, students can take a drive by Sierra College and check out their panels in the parking lot on the back side of the school by the football field or visit http://www.sierraenergytech.com/ for photos and more information on their solar panels.

By SHAI NIELSON