FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM JANUARY 31, 2019 • KIDS & EDUCATION • THE QUEENS COURIER 29
kids & education
Photo: Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech/THE COURIER
CATCHING RAYS ON ROOF
Six Astoria schools to get solar panels for power
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
adomenech@qns.com
@AODNewz
I.S. 141 – Th e Steinway school in Astoria
will soon be a part of a cohort of solar-powered
schools in New York City.
On Jan. 30., Councilman Costa
Constantinides announced at a press conference
that solar panels will be installed in
the Astoria middle school with construction
set to begin this spring.
“By the end of this year this school will
be at the forefront of how we power a
public school in the 21st century,” said
Constantinides.
Th e middle school will the be the fi rst
of six schools within the councilman’s district
to receive solar panels in an attempt
to mitigate the destructive impact of climate
change. Th ere are a total of 15 schools
within the 22nd City Council District that
Constantinides represents.
Th ough some, including the president,
believe that climate change is a myth,
Constantinides said the city and younger
generations of Americans know better.
“You guys are going to be the ones who
fi x the mess we made,” said Constantinides
to a row of seventh- and eighth-graders in
I.S. 141 – Th e Steinway school’s auditorium
where the press conference was held.
Th e other selected schools include P.S.
151 – Th e Mary D Carter School, I.S 126
– Th e Albert Shanker School of Visual &
Performing Arts, P.S 171 – Peter G Van
Alst, P.S. 122 – Mamie Fay and I.S. 10 –
Horace Greeley Middle School.
In 2014, New York City became the fi rst
major U.S. city to pass a bill calling for an
80 percent reduction in the city’s carbon
emissions by 2050 and the implementation
of the solar panels in schools is part if
this eff ort.
In his State of the City address in 2016,
Mayor de Blasio committed to “increase
solar capacity” on cut buildings fi ve-fold
over the next three years to 25 Mv, enough
to power more than 6,000 New York City
households.
Th e city owns over 4,000 buildings
including public schools, public hospitals
and libraries.
But making buildings more energy effi -
cient is just one measure to cut carbon emissions.
Th e city, as noted on its Sustainability
website, would also ideally needs to replace
many fossil fuel based heating and hot water
systems with renewable or high effi ciency
electric systems, transition toward a renewable
based electric grid, achieve zero waste
in landfi lls, and reduce the number of miles
driven in the city while replacing remaining
vehicles to zero emission vehicles.
“Th e work that we have done already
has yielded the eff ect of over 700 cars
off the road,” Department of Citywide
Administrative Services Commissioner
Lisette Camilo said during the press conference.
Councilman Costa Constantinides announced on Jan. 30 that solar panels will be installed at I.S. 141 in Astoria, with construction set to begin this spring.
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