Excitement and school pride filled the students and faculty of Warren Easton High School as they headed back to school for the 2009-2010 year, celebrating “Easton Goes Green.” Returning from summer vacation, students and faculty entered the familiar public high school building, now a Charter school, with new eyes, noticing that their building had experienced quite a busy summer. Retrofitted with over one million dollars of donations towards “green” improvements, school administrators and students honored the beginning of this school year as a new era for a community that has endured many hardships since the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Warren High, known historically as New Orleans oldest high school, experienced massive structural devastation from Hurricane Katrina in 2006. The unfortunate circumstances resulted in the termination of the 2006 school year, causing students to lose a year of education and forcing most families to desperately seek evacuate. Once Katrina’s floods receded, Warren High was left a tattered building with 3 million dollars of structural damage, threatening terminal shut down. Alumni rallied together to raise funds to rebuild this historical educational institution.

One key feature of the high school’s renovation is a solar panel system installed on the roof, proclaimed to be the largest solar installation in Louisiana. Over two hundred FlexLight "thin-film" adhesive solar panels cover a 3,700 square foot roof space, utilizing over half of the school's rooftop. Installed by South Coast Solar and provided by Advanced Green Technologies, the panels and a new hurricane-resistant roof were funded by a $500,000 grant provided by New Orleans utility company, Entergy Corp. The funding stems from a larger program called New Orleans Solar School Initiative, a project financed by contributions of $1.5 million from Entergy and $150,000 from Nike Corp. The project proposes to install three additional solar systems on New Orleans schools.

The FlexLight photovoltaic system is expected to produce approximately 37,000 kilowatt-hours of solar-powered electricity each year, roughly equal to three American household’s annual energy demands. This will result in approximately four thousand dollars of energy savings annually for Warren High. Additionally, the solar system is equipped to provide sufficient power to Warren High for emergency power needs including lighting, communication, and refrigeration in the event of a catastrophic power failure.

The solar installation serves as both a source of alternative energy for the facility and a “hands on” learning tool for students. Used to fuel students’ imaginations in science and technology, the installation teaches the children about the power and ability of renewable energy, while demonstrating the importance of energy conservation and awareness of energy production and consumption.

The roof space, significant to every survivor of Hurricane Katrina who used roofs as a refuge from the floods, still wears scars from the damage and destruction. The new solar laminate installation that lies facing a damaged roof utility door now sheds light on a bright future for Warren High. The efforts made to “green” Warren High with the attainment of a renewable energy installation signify a new beginning for this tight community, a place with high hopes for its youth who will once again establish and strengthen the school spirit of Warren Eaton High School.

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