A Look At Denmark’s Solar-Powered School

The roof will host 12,000 solar panels to supply over half of the annual electricity needs for the school’s projected 1,200 students and 280 employees

December 26, 2019 04:04 AM

By Laura Feinstein

GOOD Magazine

Is there anything Scandinavians can’t do? Whether it’s creating a waterfall in one of the world’s greatest cities, or producing practical everyday furniture, they seem to have this design thing down to a science. Now, in addition, they are also kicking the world’s butts at eco-friendly architecture. Recently Denmark-based C.F. Møller Architects unveiled ambitious plans for an epic, solar-powered building in Nordhavn, Copenhagen, to be completed in 2017. It will be called the Copenhagen International School (CIS) and at 25,000-square-meters it shall stand as the city’s largest school. CIS’s roof will be outfitted with 12,000 solar panels, intended to supply over half of the annual electricity needs for the school’s projected 1,200 students and 280 employees.

The massive building, divided into four smaller and interconnected towers, each five to seven stories, will be situated between the public waterfront and Copenhagen’s more central, urban area. This green campus will contain everything a “normal” school has, from gymnasiums, a cafeteria and a library, to several performance spaces.

The school’s 6,048-square-meter solar power grid is anticipated to produce an impressive 200 MWh per year, and CIS intends to incorporate “solar studies” into their curriculum. This will allow students to monitor energy production data for use in their physics and math classes, and learn about alternative energy while they’re living it.

Read full coverage here.