Through a deal with Connecticut-based renewable energy firm Viridian Power Co., The Storm King School (SKS), a New York-based boarding school, has begun consuming electricity that is entirely generated by local wind farms.
Viridian Independent Associate Eric Stewart says that the school is on the vanguard of using alternative energy to power its facilities. While New York State has allowed an open electricity and natural gas market for many years, Stewart notes it has recently seen an increase in the number of companies offering alternative energy sources.
SKS is acquiring electricity powered by U.S. wind farms, which include the High Sheldon Wind Farm in Strykersville, N.Y. The school has also enrolled in Viridian's "Simply Right 100" natural gas plan that provides for 100% carbon offsets – i.e. the replacement of all of the carbon it expends in producing the natural gas. One of the offsets includes planting trees in places such as the Amazon.
"I think it's incumbent on us as a 21st-century school to do it, to teach our kids about it, to be consistent with the movement to create a sustainable planet," says SKS Headmaster Paul Domingue.
