Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Schools will be turned into miniature power stations under an experimental scheme to install solar panels in their playgrounds, writes Lucy Ward.
One hundred schools taking part in the government-backed project will be able to generate free electricity in return for a one third contribution to the start-up costs.
They hope to produce enough power from the panels, mounted in "fun" shapes on bicycle sheds or purpose-built structures, to run computer suites, with any extra being sold to the National Grid.
Pupils will also be able to use computers to analyse data from the panels, calculating the amount of energy generated and possibly adjusting controls for maximum efficiency.
Schools and further education colleges are being invited to take part in the scheme by a consortium aiming to promote the use of solar power in the UK. The partners in the Scolar Programme, which include universities, electricity companies and green energy research groups, hope the experiments will demonstrate the efficiency of solar energy.
Schools are likely to have to contribute around pounds 3,500 to join. The remaining costs will be met by pounds 1m government cash and pounds 2.5m from the Scolar consortium.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments