Townsville High School Sustainability Program

Townsville State High School Sustainability Program

Solar Power
Wind Power
Weather Station
Recycling
Greenhouse Challenge
Reef Guardians
TLSF Curriculum

Engineering young scientists for a sustainable future.	Townsville State High School has a number of environmental programs underway or under development. A key distinction between these initiatives and those of other schools is that Town High has a focus on technology. This is because of the excellent work of the Technology Maths and Science Centre in the school. Read the Townsville Bulletin Article
TSHS solar array during installation Solar Power Townville State High School recently installed a 1.1kW peak polycrystalline photovoltaic system (see picture above). The solar panels are grid interactive which is to say that they put power into the grid. The 12V DC power from the panels is transformed into 240V AC using a device called an inverter, pictured below.
	Inverter The solar panels will soon be accompanied by a 1kW array of amorphous solar panels similarly grid interactive, but running through a separate inverter. This will allow for an analysis of the relative output of two different solar power systems.
Wind Turbines	Wind Power Soon to be installed on the roof next to the solar panels is a vertical axis wind turbine of the type pictured left. Like the solar panels this unit will be grid interactive. The school has also been contribution to the pool of intellectual property in the wind business by filing for a provisional patent of an wind power technology for domestic use. The provisional patent was filed in December 2002. Discussions are underway about commercialising the unit and it is envisaged that this process will become part of the education program in the school.
Click image for Weather Hawk Weather Station	Weather Station Supporting the renewable energy projects is a Weather Hawk weather station. The weather station measures a range of parameters including: air temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, rainfall, solar radiation, wind direction and wind speed. Information from the weather station will me made available to the public in real-time through the school's website. The information will also support the renewable energy research by assessing the relative efficiency of wind power and solar power in relation to wind speed and UV intensity.
	Recycling TSHS currently recycles aluminum and is actively investigating options for recycling plastics. Also under investigation is a worm farm to dispose of food scraps and other organic material.
	Greenhouse Challenge Townville State High School also recently signed the letter of intent to join the the Greenhouse Challenge program. The Greenhouse challenge program will assist the school to determine its greenhouse emissions and to develop measures to reduce these. The main focus will likely be energy management. The greenhouse audit is anticipated to commence soon.
	Reef Guardians Townville State High School has recently become one of the first members of the Reef Guardians program, an action based schools participation program related to current issues affecting the Great Barrier Reef.
Full School Sustainability Program Townville State High School has also recently adopted a whole of school curriculum approach to sustainability education. This has included getting sustainability into all of the specific courses run by the school. Town High has introduced the UNESCO Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future program (TLSF) Click here to see how the UNESCO sustainability initiative is being integrated in the school's curriculum.