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CHICAGO, June 14, 2006 /PRNewswire
ComEd and the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation (ICECF) announced today nearly $200,000 in grants to support the installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) electric generation systems at 14 schools in ComEd's service territory in northern Illinois. The funding for each selected school includes $10,000 from ICECF to pay for the cost of the system and $3,000 from ComEd to fund support from the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) to facilitate the installation and develop the classroom curriculum. Additionally, the ICECF is developing a Web site, which will highlight the real-time generation data of each of the solar power systems in the program. Teachers will be able to use this real time data in lessons on renewable energy for science, math and other disciplines. "ComEd is extremely proud to partner with the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation and the Foundation for Environmental Education to educate young people about the benefits of renewable energy," said Frank M. Clark, ComEd chairman and CEO. "Educating the next generation is a key first step in advancing renewable resources as a viable energy solution." The schools selected for the 2006 solar PV grants are: Glenbard Township HSD #87 (Carol Stream), Clarendon Hill Middle School (Clarendon Hills), Prairie Crossing Charter School (Grayslake), Union Ridge SD #84.5 (Harwood Heights), Nelson PSD #8 (Nelson), Odell CCSD #3435 (Odell), Pontiac Christian School (Pontiac), Rhodes SD #84.5 (River Grove), Keith County Day School (Rockford), Lutheran High School (Rockford), Roselle SD #12 (Roselle), Stillman Valley High School (Stillman Valley), Hawthorne Middle School (Vernon Hills) and Four Winds School (Warrenville). "In its support of the Foundation's initiative, ComEd has stepped up once again to demonstrate its commitment to bringing knowledge and use of clean energy to Illinois," said Phil Novak, chair of the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation Board of Trustees. "These grants will substantially increase the number of PV installations in schools across the state. More importantly, students will see first-hand on a daily basis how sunlight is converted to electricity as a clean renewable energy source." ComEd's commitment to a greener environment includes providing a $225 million endowment in 1999 to create the ICECF as an independent foundation and more than $100 million to the City of Chicago to support energy efficiency and renewable technology. The solar PV program, now in its fifth year, began as the ComEd Solar Schools initiative and was created to raise student awareness of renewable energy resources and demonstrate the benefits of solar power. ComEd's solar efforts, including more than 50 solar PV installation projects in Chicago alone, have helped make Illinois fifth in the United States in terms of installed photovoltaic capacity. For the first time in 2006, solar grant recipients were selected through an application process facilitated by the ICECF. Since its foundation, the ICECF has provided more than 2,000 grants totaling more than $100 million to improve energy efficiency, advance the development of renewable energy resources and to protect natural areas for people in communities all across Illinois. For more information about the program, contact the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation at (312) 372-5191, or visit their website http://www.illinoiscleanenergy.org/, or contact the Foundation for Environmental Education at (614) 470-0435, http://www.the-environment.org/. Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd) is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC), one of the nation's largest electric utilities with approximately 5.2 million customers and more than $15 billion in annual revenues. ComEd provides service to approximately 3.7 million customers across Northern Illinois, or 70 percent of the state's population. SOURCE ComEd News Provided By |
