St. Basil-the-Great College School is a step closer to building a windmill on its front lawn after the Ontario government announced it is providing $50 million to help provincial schools go green.
The money will encourage school boards to cut down heating, cooling and energy bills by installing renewable technologies such as solar panels, geothermal systems and small-scale wind projects, Energy Minister George Smitherman said yesterday at St. Basil’s in North York.
Schools that go green will not only save money on energy and natural gas bills, they can also make money by selling electricity back to the grid through feed-in tariffs, he added.
The $50 million committed yesterday is in addition to the $550 million announced in April to retrofit schools — especially older buildings in need of new boilers and windows — to save energy and create nearly 5,000 temporary jobs.
The green push is part of the Liberal government’s green energy act.
