Photo provided Columbus East High School senior Yutika Sawant will deliver a presentation during a Monday school board meeting to encourage Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. to place solar panels on the Columbus East High School roof. The effort is part of her senior project at East.
A local student is hoping to convince Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. to invest in solar energy solutions at Columbus East High School as part of her senior project.
East senior Yutika Sawant will deliver a presentation on solar energy at BCSC’s school board meeting Monday. The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. and will be held in the Terrace Room of the BCSC administration building.
During her presentation, Sawant will share some basic information about solar energy and its benefits, a case study on the electricity costs and usage at East, her case for why the school needs solar panels, her personal experiences with solar power and a petition she created to put solar panels on the high school roof.
Sawant said her petition, which is open to students, teachers and parents, has received a positive response.
“So far, they (students) have been really enthusiastic, and they are in favor of putting in panels,” she said. “I’ve received a lot of comments which says, ‘Do it, install them, it would make me proud of our school.’”
BCSC Director of Operations Brett Boezeman said East’s roofing system is a candidate for replacement in the next few years, at which time the school corporation would then explore the possibility of implementing “a roof mounted solar system.”
“We have benefited greatly from our solar panel installations at Northside Middle School and Taylorsville Elementary School,” he said. “Several of our other BCSC buildings are good candidates for roof mounted solar panel installations as well. Our plan is, as building roofing systems are replaced, we will outfit the roof with solar panels if appropriate. As both roofing systems and solar panel systems are designed to last around 25 years, it’s wise to install them simultaneously.”
According to Sawant, the main goal of her senior project is “to spread awareness regarding solar energy in Columbus, Indiana.”
Her efforts have included giving lectures on solar energy to other high school students, making a video series about local solar panel owners, giving a demonstration with a miniature solar panel, conducting research and interviewing Dennis Baute from the Columbus Plan Commission and the Energy Matters Community Coalition.
Sawant also created a “solar calculator” spreadsheet. A person can enter their electricity usage and needs into the document, and it will then show the estimated cost of installation, return on investment and payback time.
The idea for her project came from Sawant’s desire to do something that was both environmental and related to physics. Additionally, her family had already installed a solar system at their farmhouse in India.
“For my future, climate crisis is a big thing,” said Sawant. “And there are a lot of young activists, and even I wanted to do something for that. And I’m also going to major in physics in college, so I might do something related to sustainability in the future.”
