The Mayor of Gravesham, Councillor Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, was on hand to help Cobham Hall launch the largest solar Photovoltaic scheme in Gravesham on Thursday, as the school took its first step in a rolling program of large scale environmental initiatives.
The girls boarding and day school near London, recently installed the 172 PV cell system on the roofs of its two Sixth Form boarding houses which will provide over 60 boarders with much of the electricity needed to run their houses and their lives.
Cllr Dhesi praised the school’s move to a greener energy.
"I would like to congratulate Cobham Hall on this initiative. The school is now home to an amazing solar PV system, which is the largest in the borough. I hope more and more organisations and schools take up their idea and recognise the ever increasing importance of protecting the environment and sustainability,” he said.
“We all should be looking at moving towards greener sources of energy rather than the traditional methods. Cobham Hall should be applauded for leading the borough's efforts on this journey."
PV cells turn light into electricity and will save the school more than £3,400 per year in energy costs as well as reducing the school’s carbon footprint.
The cells will save 25.8 tonnes of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere each year – a similar impact on the environment to planting over 660 trees and growing them for ten years.
Unused energy produced by the PV cells will be fed back into the electricity grid.
As a member of Round Square, an international association of schools with a philosophy in which environmentalism is one of the central ideals, the school is keen to make a positive impact on the environment – a challenging task on a Heritage listed site.
“We found a way of pushing our environment ethos through school and this was just the beginning,” sad Miss Jessica Caro, the school’s Round Square Representative.
“We want to make the girls more conscious about that side of our school.”
The PV cells will soon be linked up to an internet site so that students can learn more about the new technology installed in their school, with the site producing data on energy production and consumption.
In April Cobham Hall will move to a 0% landfill scheme for the school’s waste, with students taking an active role in recycling and learning how to reduce the amount of waste produced.
Other initiatives in the pipeline include a biomass system with woodchip sourced
from local woodlands in need of management and biofuel produced from cooking oil collected from local schools.
Cobham Hall used the Dartford based renewable energy company Enevis to install and connect the new solar PV system.