PUSD’s Net Zero Energy Goals Remain Unfulfilled

70 percent of the solar photovoltaic (PV) solar panels necessary to make the STEAM and theater building net zero energy still need to be installed by PUSD, who has yet to raise the $1.2 million needed to complete the developments. 

Students for Solar was a fundraising campaign with the goal of funding the installation of solar panels on the roof of the STEAM building. It ran from Nov. 2020 through May 2021, and raised $60,000 of the $400,000 goal. 

PUSD has installed about 300 (30 percent of the panels necessary to reach their net zero energy goal) PV panels on campus. Currently, many of those installed on the theater building are set up and used for shade, not generating power. According to the East Bay Times, the STEAM and theater buildings were designed to be net zero energy facilities since the pre-construction plans in Measure H1.

“The bulk of the solar panels are functioning. On the theater, there are a few for shade purposes,” Director of Facilities Pete Palmer said. 

Budget constraints and prioritizing managing Witter Field’s flooding delayed the installation of the remaining 70 percent of necessary panels. 

“Knowing that we can get funding down, I can absolutely guarantee that [they will be installed],” Palmer said. “The question is, ‘when?’”

Many of the student leaders of Students for Solar graduated last year, such as Mara Lovric, who worked closely with the Piedmont Education Foundation (PEF) as co-chair of the fundraiser. 

“We raised most of our funds through a webinar event where Dr. Meredith Fowlie, an Environmental Economics professor from UC Berkeley, spoke about solar power, and we also had Josh Posamientier speak about the specific financial details of these solar panels. He was one of the main community members involved with the project,” Lovric said.

Lovric collected their funds through a website called School Auction, which Students for Solar collaborated with the PEF to set up.

Green Club, the club Students for Solar originally stemmed from, was recently informed by a teacher that some of the installed panels may be unplugged.

“[We plan on] contacting the administration to ask them exactly what we can do to make sure that they’re consistently plugged in,” said Green Club Co-President senior Elena Blanco.

Blanco also said that the unplugged panels make it harder for Piedmont to reach their sustainability energy goals.

In order to reach their goal of making the STEAM and Theater buildings net zero energy, 710 more PV panels would still need to be installed and funded.

As a longer term goal, PUSD wants to go completely off the PG&E grid, allowing the district to be energy independent and fully operational during power outages. To fulfill this goal, they would need to fund and install PV panels and battery storage facilities on every PUSD campus.