George Washington Carver Elementary School of Lexington Park, Maryland begins breaking ground today on the installation of a large scale solar electric system supporting Maryland’s St. Mary’s County Public School system (SMCPS). Once completed, the elementary school’s system is expected to generate approximately 677,000 kilowatt hours of electricity in its first year of operations, representing 80 percent of the school’s energy needs. The amount of clean energy the system will produce in its first year is equivalent to taking 105.5 cars off the road each year. St. Mary’s County Public School system (SMCPS) received a grant from Maryland Energy Administration specifically designed for the development of solar electric projects on public buildings in Maryland. The array will be installed by Standard Solar a full-service development, installation of solar electric systems for commercial, government and residential customers, and its joint venture financial partner Perpetual Energy Systems.
St. Mary’s County Public Schools (SMCPS) recently completed construction on a Gold LEED elementary school where every aspect of the building is a teaching tool and is relevant to the curriculum including photovoltaic panels, a wind turbine, two 15,000 gallon cisterns for the harvesting of rainwater, and attention to the environmental sensitive sites in which the school has been carefully placed to preserve endangered species. Additionally, SMCPS has a green school mobile classroom that travels to each school to support the curriculum, and has a mascot, Wattson, who works with students to promote energy conservation and recycling efforts and educates students on the importance of natural resources.
George Washington Carver Elementary School
serves approximately 551 students from the age of 3 to Fifth Grade. G.W. Carver is designated as a Title I school. This distinction is based on the percentage of Free and Reduced Meals (73%) received by students. As a result, G.W. Carver is the beneficiary of both state and federal money to help supplement the county funded budget.