Any new technology to help the school or any new program to help the students learn is what David Delbosque (Avalon ISD Superintendent) wants for Avalon ISD. When DelBosque did some investigating on wind turbines and found out how they can save money on the electric bill, of course he wanted the wind turbine for Avalon ISD.

“On your electric bill you will always have an “on demand” charge," explained DelBosque. He continued saying, "This charge is what you get charged to have electricity available in case you need it. For our high school and cafeteria together the total electric bill is $1800.00, $1100.00 is actually usage, $686.00 is the “on demand” charge to have it available. The elementary building total bill is $983.00 of which only $588.00 is usage – $365.00 is the “on demand” charge to have it available." He went on to say, “Four buildings and an aerobic system will run during football season and will run for approximately four hundred and fifty kilo watt hours a month when we are using them. This turbine generated 500 kilo watts, so it should pay for usage for the four portables, aerobic system and the scoreboard during the season.”

The last week of February is when Avalon ISD received their wind turbine. Mr. DelBosque explained, “We had seen the neighbors wind turbine and decided to call the company and see what it could do for us.” He went on to say, “Some representatives came out and gave us a demonstration on how it works. It was explained to us that the money we would save on electricity would pay for the turbine in five to eight years.”

Mr. DelBosque looked at solar energy as well as the wind turbine but after viewing all the information decided on the turbine. “Where we have the turbine is all flat land and there is nothing to impede the wind, there are no buildings or trees in the area so we should have a high producing turbine. It has a swiveling head so when the wind changes the head will swivel to catch the most wind.”

The turbine is a small residential sixty foot turbine. DelBosque explained, “The higher the turbine, the more wind it will generate. On our football field we have three small portable lights, press box, score board, and the aerobic system that is run by the turbine. We don’t need anything bigger.”

Besides saving money on the school’s electric bill, DelBosque is excited because it also is a teaching tool. “It is a great learning tool for the kids to learn about alternative energy. The physics class has done a study on how much the windmill could save them on their energy bill if they had one at their house and how it works. They came out here to the turbine in a bus, took the data from the turbine, went home, pulled out their electric bills and compared our data to what they run at their house. They were able to see how it would effect the savings for their household.”

Avalon ISD is very happy with their wind turbine!