ETHS exploring budget-neutral solar panel installation

A Honeywell representative visited Monday night’s Evanston Township High School Board of Education meeting to share preliminary estimates on the money the school could potentially save by installing solar panels.

The figures provided, though not yet final, indicate that ETHS could make the energy and sustainability upgrade without impacting its budget.

According to a presentation from John Rocco, a senior account executive at Honeywell, the school could save about $600,000 a year and a total of $12 million over 20 years in energy costs by supplementing the power it currently gets from local utility companies with solar panels.

“If you guys just looked at the current operational budget, and you did not make a change of a dollar over the next 20 years, everything that we could do with those $12 million you would have just been paying to the utility companies anyway,” Rocco said. 

The school can take one of two routes to finance the installation, according to Chief Financial Officer Kendra Williams. ETHS could borrow money and use the energy savings to pay off that debt, or Honeywell could cover the upfront installation costs (which Rocco and Honeywell have not yet provided an estimate for), and then the district would pay the company back with its energy savings.

“It has no impact on budget, no impact to the taxpayers,” Rocco said. 

Next steps

So far, Honeywell only has estimates from its initial audit of the school’s budget. If the board approves the solar installation, the company will complete a full review with the help of contractors to draft guaranteed savings estimates. 

“We would guarantee the construction project gets done for the number that we all agree on, and we would also guarantee and agree on the savings,” Rocco said. 

If the savings fail to meet Honeywell’s final estimates after a full audit, the company will reimburse the school the remaining amount. 

“If there’s ever a shortfall in the savings that we guaranteed, Honeywell is on the hook to write a check for that,” Rocco told the board. “We pay out less than $300,000 a year [for such shortfalls].”

For context, according to Rocco, the company has created $7 billion in energy savings since its founding in the 1980s and currently has $1.1 billion in estimated energy savings “on the books.”

Board response

The board had some clarifying questions about the project’s plausibility and financing, but members reacted positively overall to the idea.

“It sounds fantastic,” said board member John Martin. “It’s something that, we need to make these changes in order to see the larger impact.”

“It’s great that every time we see you,” board member Liz Rolewicz said to Director of Operations and Sustainability John Crawford, “we are definitely moving forward in all these initiatives and outcome measures.”

More sustainability efforts

In the short term, ETHS has another sustainability-focused project on its agenda — a new bike shelter at the school’s door No. 2 entrance for students who bike to school.

ETHS student Olin Wilson-Thomas spearheaded the initiative after hearing from others that biking to school on days with rain or snow is difficult without covered bike racks. 

“Olin identified a practical need here on campus, went out and secured funding for it, and now is working across institutions to bring his vision to life,” Crawford explained. 

Wilson-Thomas, with Crawford’s support, obtained a $5,000 grant for the project and purchased materials for the build. He also facilitated a partnership with a Northwestern University architecture course to design the shelter. 

Once the weather warms up, Crawford and other facilities staff will lay the appropriate concrete. Then, the Geometry in Construction students at ETHS will help build the structure. 

“We’re super excited about this,” Wilson-Thomas said. “We’re grateful for the support that we’ve received from the school to get this done.”