Coquitlam school earns a Clean Energy Champion designation

Coast Salish Elementary school has been recognized by BC Hydro for their steps toward energy conservation and sustainability.

The school has solar panels on its gym roof, which provides partial power for the facility. It’s heated using a heat pump, and has high efficient LED lights, and is designed to accommodate natural light.

These energy saving systems are projected to save 742 tonnes of carbon emissions over 15 years, according to B.C. Hydro, which provided funding for the project. And they’ve also provided learning opportunities for students.

“It definitely leads to increased awareness from the students about  environmental initiatives and the difference that you can make in your usage,” said Frank Pearse, the principal of Coast Salish Elementary.

“And my belief is the more information and knowledge that children are exposed to, then over their lifetime, that’s going to have an incremental impact everywhere they go. The more opportunities that kids have to realize, ‘Oh my actions do impact this. My actions do impact that.’”

Teachers and students have access to something called ‘my solar edge’, Pearse explained, which gives students real time information on the energy captured by the solar panels. In classrooms, they can put it up on a screen, and see how much electricity is being captured by solar panels in real time.

“Which is fabulous, because, you know, they can see the impact of a cloudy day,” said Pearse.

Last year, the grade 4-5 class did a project where they tried to bring the school down to net zero energy consumption.The students campaigned for others to do things like turn down heat and turn off lights.

“They didn’t quite get there, but they got close. But  it was just a really good way for the students to interact with the energy efficiency in the building that by reducing the heat, by turning off lights, by being a little conscious of those types of things, when the sun  is shining they could see the impact as to how little electricity we were using inside the school compared to days where we were running normal,” Pearse said.

Clean energy champions

BC Hydro gave the school this designation to recognize the school’s commitment to energy conservation and sustainability — something that the “kids love”, according to Pearse.

He said it provides another learning opportunity. He talked to students about why people like MLA Jodie Wickens, BC Hydro CEO Chris O’Riley and school board members were visiting, and students came to realize that they all represented organizations that had contributed to building Coast Salish Elementary.

It required funding from the provincial government, grants from BC Hydro for the energy efficient features, a vision from the school board and district leadership, and many steps in-between, Pearse explained.

“And so for the students, it then becomes a bit of a sense of pride and a bit of sense of identity.”