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PETITION: Power our schools and childcare with solar and batteries (infosec.pub)

submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by arbilp3@aussie.zone to c/environment@aussie.zone

9 comments fedilink hide all child comments

If you’ve ever done school drop-off on a hot day, you’ve probably thought about the classrooms our kids sit in all afternoon.

Or wondered how schools and childcare centres cope as power bills keep rising?

That’s why more communities are looking to solar and batteries, helping schools and childcare centres:

cut energy bills
keep classrooms cooler during heatwaves
stay powered during outages

Time and time again, educators, energy experts, and community leaders tell us the same thing: solar and batteries for schools and childcare is a no-brainer.

On April 1, Parents for Climate will hold our first ever event at Parliament House in Canberra, sharing stories from communities already making it happen. Members of Parliament and Senators from across Australia are invited - and adding your name helps show them that families in their electorate want solar and batteries, which could encourage them to attend.

For more info and to sign the petition: https://www.parentsforclimate.org/power-our-schools-now--

top 9 comments

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[–] eureka@aussie.zone 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Maybe only tangentially related, but my primary school had a science kit buried among the other toys, with various electrical components. And I remember there was a very small fan and a solar panel I connected up, and it was pretty impressive to me that it would just keep running without a battery so long as it was somewhere with direct sunlight like a windowsill, where it was allowed to stay for a while.

A school should be a catalyst for education, not just of a syllabus and for the workforce, but exposing people to the tools of the future and the 'magic' we've created so far. Especially in a word where more and more menial or low-skill tasks will be automated or offshored.

[–] Scubus@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

You had a science kit that had a solar panel and a dc motor? Was it brushed? No clue how the unbrushed ones work but my intuition tells me theyd have to somehow comvert it to a form a AC inside the motor, as a stationary magnetic field isnt going to do anything. If they included that in the kit thats wild

[–] eureka@aussie.zone 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I don't know, I was too young to know what AC or DC were, and the motor wasn't exposed anyway - I believe the fan was one pre-made component. It was made to be very child-safe.

When I said components, what I really meant was there were alligator clip wires to connect whole pre-made objects "here's a fan, here's a light bulb"

[–] No1@aussie.zone 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

The real question is could you zap your friends with the current from the solar panel? In the interest of science and learning, of course! 😉

[–] eureka@aussie.zone 2 points 1 week ago

No, but you could clamp 'em!

[–] shirro@aussie.zone 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Local community run childcare has its north facing roof absolutely covered in pv. Has been like that for many years. Every homeowner and business that can afford it does the same around here. Small scale PV installs on non-productive bits of farmland as well.

We don't get many power outages. I am not sure if batteries make economic sense everywhere currently. Their time will come I am sure.

I guess a lot of childcare around the country is dodgy commercial operations where they are pocketing all the government grants while their buildings fall apart. Perhaps we should get rid of those and have more community run operations they would put profits back into improving the care and facilities including capital investments like solar.

[–] arbilp3@aussie.zone 1 points 1 week ago

Totally agree. Unfortunately under our current system they are unlikely to close commercial child care centres. They were supposed to better regulate them. I hope parents are making sure their MPs don't forget and also keep advocating for more support for community-run ones.

[–] Wooki@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Power schools with quality education.

[–] arbilp3@aussie.zone 1 points 1 week ago

And that too!