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The feed back tariff means that solar panels can generate money and electricity. Should parents start to invest in solar panels, could schools be sites for parent owned solar panels? Would councils recognise this and divert money that is usually spent on coal generated electricity back to the school or the individual? Is it better to put solar panels on a flat roof or sloping roof if they both face south? If grants are available for schools in the future would already having solar panels count against the school?  

I had a meeting with the head of our local primary school to talk about the idea of 'rent-a-roof' schemes, where people in the community could have a share in a solar panel.  Of course, a school, or anywhere else for that matter, would prefer to get a grant from an energy company, the Coop, etc. (later on, you talk about money being available in the future, but I think there is money available already) and get to keep the feed-in tariff to boost the school budget, as a first choice. 

But I think it's a brilliant idea: in our little old market town, so many people who would be keen to invest in renewable energy can't because of planning issues in a conservation area, so this kind of scheme would enable people wanting to invest to do so, and people needing investment to get much-reduced electric bills.   It would also involve the local community more in the school.

I tried to find out about 'rent-a-roof' schemes already underway, to find out about the legal side of it - drawing up of contracts for the sharing out of feed-in tariff, etc., but didn't get anywhere.  Do tell me if you can find out more...

Re solar panels going on flat or sloping roofs - we have a community building involved in the project which has both facing south, so this question arose.  The SolarTech answer was that both are perfectly possible, but the sloping roof was the prefered option because: 1.flat roofs can need more maintenance than your average sloping roof, so there could be some issues before the end of the lifespan of the solar panels, and 2.in our case, there was more chance of excitable youths being able to get on to the flat roof and cause damage.  Also, there were questions about the weight the flat roof could support, I seem to remember.

If a company came to do a feasibility study, they would look into all those practical details. 

Have you heard the questions raised about feed-in tariff: that the cost of units at the moment means that all of us are paying for the tariff, through increased energy bills, but only the wealthy are able to benefit - that's another reason why part-share schemes would be good, but also why it seems imperative that the government bring in loans which you pay back only at the rate you make savings, and attaching the investment to the property when you sell.  Hopefully, we'll see these things before long.  In our area, 'Salix' funding works like that for schools to do energy saving measures - don't know if that's a nationwide scheme?

Thanks this feedback is fantastic. I decided  yesterday to try and go national with both ptas fund raising for green energy and the global warming assemblies. Because of all the news about national debt I feel it could be a good time to encourage parents to invest (?) and it would be lovely if something large scale had happened before 2012 so that the world can see that we are prepared to do something our selves and not only expect our governments to do something. Also it will be a great forum for discussing the issues. 

I have put the powerpoint and script on this website, please encourage anyone to use it and we must work out how to contact each other directly because i am happy to give out my email so people can contact me to ask questions about how to best go about doing the assemblies.