For about 15 days in November, maintenance workers were constantly on the roof of OHS installing solar panels.

Steve Habeck (Director of Facilities), has been working with a combination of people to get a grant from Straight Up Solar. The grant was to install solar panels on roofs of 5 campuses in the Mehlville School District.

“We’ve been working on this project for about 6-8 months,” Habeck said.

The goal of having the solar panels is to save a minimum of $130,000 (for all schools) over the course of 20 years. With the installation of the panels, which was approved on December 1, a decrease in the electricity bill is almost immediate.

The money that the schools save goes directly to Straight Up Solar as payment for the solar panels. Although we are giving the money that we save directly to Straight Up Solar, we are still saving money.

Over the course of the 20 years, the cost of electricity will go up, as will everyone’s electricity bill. Our bill will only go up a small portion as the cost goes up, therefore in the end we will be saving more each year.

“In the long run, it’s an unbelievably good investment. In the short run, we wouldn’t have been able to afford it without a grant,” Jim Kern, assistant principal said.