Niwot High School installs charging stations

Niwot High School is part of an effort to help reduce the carbon footprint of students and staff within the St. Vrain Valley School District.

Two charging stations for electric vehicles were installed over the summer.

“We’re pretty excited to take more green initiatives,” Niwot High School Principal Eric Rauschkolb said. “We’ve already seen it used this summer and we anticipate it being used more by the community as well.”

The charging stations are limited to students and staff during the day, but are open for public use outside of school hours.

"There is a charge, Rauschkolb said. "It depends on how much energy is transferred. I'm told that people that drive electric cars have some sort of swipe card that they can use at whichever charging station they are using."

Rauschkolb said that there are several students and faculty members who drive electric cars, and this move by the district makes sense.

“We talked about this possibility and I thought we would be able to do that,” Rauschkolb said. “So we spoke with the district and got it done this summer.”

The stations were installed by an independent contractor that will maintain them when and if the need arises. Several other locations within the district also have charging stations going into the new school year.

“We are looking for ways to be more environmentally friendly and responsible,” Rauschkolb said.

In furthering the “green” motive, bids are out to have solar panels installed on the roof of the high school.

This project could supply up to 60 percent of the energy currently being used by the school.

Summer is winding down though, and projects like this take time. Freshmen at NHS start class on Aug. 15, while everyone else begins the next day.

Rauschkolb said that efforts like this go a long way toward sustainability, and that NHS appreciates the work done to get these stations installed at the school.

“I’d like to say thank you to everyone up at the district office for working collaboratively to make this happen,” Rauschkolb said. “Also to the community of Niwot and the voters who have supported us to make projects like this a possibility.”