Thomas Jefferson High School’s colors have long been maroon and gold, but lately the school is starting to look a little more green.

This summer, a solar power demonstration will be installed on the roof of Thomas Jefferson’s gym. The equipment will convert light directly into energy, which will go into Puget Sound Energy’s power grid. The school district will earn energy credit for the power produced.

The solar panels were earned as one of two grants from PSE to the Federal Way School District totaling $45,000. A representative from PSE presented the awards at a school board meeting June 10, honoring the district for its continued efforts to reduce energy consumption.

“This is not new. You’re clearly a leader in energy conservation in the state,” said Gary Nomensen, PSE government and community relations manager.

Federal Way started its energy conservation program in 2004. Since then, the district has saved $500,000 of taxpayers’ money.

“Five hundred thousand dollars, as you know, is not miniscule. It’s a substantial savings,” said Federal Way School District Superintendent Tom Murphy.

Last year, the district shaved 6.1 percent off its energy consumption from the previous year for a savings of nearly $114,000.

Ed Novak, Federal Way School District resource conservation manager, said that he hopes to achieve at least a 6 percent decrease in energy consumption again next year. The decreases come when Novak educates students and staff about turning off equipment and lights when not in use, he said.

“It makes me proud of the staff and the district that they are aware and very conscious about turning things off and not using energy when it’s not needed,” Novak said. “The word is getting out to staff and students.”

The solar power demonstration at Thomas Jefferson will be used as part of a new curriculum next fall in which students in physical science, physics, Earth sciences and marketing classes will participate in activities related to solar power.

The solar panels will produce 1,100 kilowatt hours of energy annually. At Redmond High School, where they have used the solar panels since January 2006, they have saved 3,396 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) from being released into the environment. That is equivalent to the amount of CO2 produced by the energy used to power a home for one month.

“We’re not going to offset a lot of CO2 or generate a lot of power, but we’re going to teach a lot of kids,” said Micah Haman, PSE customer renewable program manager. “It’s all about teaching kids and getting kids exposure.”

In Federal Way, a Web site will feature updated information on solar energy from the system. Kiosks will be placed at The Commons mall and at City Hall displaying real-time data on the solar power demonstration.

Shawn Timulak, the teacher at Thomas Jefferson who submitted an application to PSE for the solar panels, said he was excited when he found out his school had been selected.

“My idea was to try to integrate the solar curriculum into the classes we already have here,” he said. “The tie-in to science is pretty obvious and easy, but we’ve come up with some good ideas about how we can integrate this into marketing and some of the other classes on campus.”

Timulak said he hopes that the community will also learn from the solar project.

“This sort of landscape of our energy needs and solutions is changing pretty fast… solar is definitely going to be a pretty big part of that,” he said. “We also want the community to be exposed to it and show that this is what we’re committed to in the school.”

Contact Margo Hoffman: mhoffman@fedwaymirror.com or (253) 925-5565.