When construction at Hillview Middle School is finishes in 2012, students could have more than just extra elbow-room at the reconfigured campus. They could be spending their days at one of the first carbon-neutral public schools in America
Ted Schlein, a Menlo Park parent of two middle-school students, has volunteered to raise more than half a million dollars in order to bring Hillview up to a higher standard of energy efficiency and solar power capacity than even the Menlo Park City School District had planned.
“We live in Silicon Valley, the heart of innovation. If we don’t lead here, in terms of turning communities into innovative and sustainable communities, I don’t know where else in the country they’ll do it,” he told The Almanac.
Hillview, the district’s only middle school for grades 6-8, is bracing for a big increase in enrollment in the coming years. The campus, located off Santa Cruz Avenue in Menlo Park, is essentially going to be rebuilt with two-story classroom buildings, a performing arts venue and a new administration building in order to accommodate a swelling student population.
District officials already planned to incorporate a number of “green” measures to make Hillview “grid neutral,” a term that means the campus will generate enough solar power to offset its use of electricity from the power grid.
Mr. Schlein wants to help the district go even further, by offsetting the school’s entire carbon footprint. He aims to do this by funding additional solar energy-generating photovoltaic panels, enough to offset Hillview’s use of natural gas, as well as electricity.
The cost difference between the district’s grid-neutral project and achieving the higher standard of carbon neutral is about $500,000 to $600,000, said Mr. Schlein.
“I will work tirelessly on raising the money to fill that gap,” Mr. Schlein told the school board in June. “I think this is something we’ll look back on and feel proud that we did it.”
At that meeting, the board voted unanimously to allow Mr. Schlein to go ahead with his efforts.
“Thank you for looking over the fence and throwing down the gauntlet,” said Deborah Fitz, the board president.
While being able to zero-out the monthly electricity bill through solar power has a cost benefit, current regulations don’t allow for PG&E customers to make money by selling back to the utility company any electricity in excess of what they use. In other countries, such as Germany, a feed-and-tariff system allows individuals to sell back solar electricity, said Mr. Schlein. He hopes the U.S. will one day adopt such a policy, he said.
“There’s not an economic benefit for the district to get to carbon neutrality, but there’s a community benefit, a it’s-the-right-thing-to-do benefit, an educational benefit, a societal benefit,” he said.
It’s safe to say that Mr. Schlein is no stranger to fundraising. He’s a past co-president of the Menlo Park-Atherton Education Foundation, and a managing partner at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
His fundraising efforts will begin in earnest in August, Mr. Schlein said. He plans to work up a PowerPoint presentation and hold several small gatherings with potential donors. There’s a high degree of interest in the community about getting Hillview to carbon-neutral, he said.
“I think these are exciting times for all of us. I certainly don’t go to any parties where the topic of green and sustainability doesn’t come up,” he said.
His one concern is to avoid tapping into donations that would otherwise fund school programs.
“I don’t want people to think that if they contribute to this, they don’t have to contribute to the foundation or the PTO,” he said.
Anyone wishing to contact Mr. Schlein directly about the project can send an e-mail to him at tschlein@kpcb.com.
