A committee of students throughout Granite School District have been pushing for ‘Clean Energy.’ Clean energy is, “solar, wind, or existing hydro electrical”. In the context of a school district it would be solar. In terms of transportation, buses would be electric, and HVAC…But mainly its switching to electrified versions instead of natural gas versions” says senior Ava Curtis. 

 The committee was formed by Skyline High School student, Aarushi Verma, in June of twenty-twenty. The committee aims to get Granite School District to commit to fully clean energy by twenty-thirty, and by twenty-forty to have completely clean energy in all other sectors. 

Currently the committee is working on gathering support of all kinds. They have been gathering signatures, and getting Granite School District board members’ support. 

Granite Clean Energy has a petition on Addup that has over one-thousand signatures from people all over who are supporting Granite Clean Energy in their efforts to transition to clean energy. Student’s here at Taylorsville, Ava Curtis and Amanda Merrill are on this committee and have been gathering support from students attending Taylorsville High School. 

Granite School District is split into seven precincts each with their own board member. A few board members have shown interest, however none have formally committed to the Clean Energy plan. 

Most board members are waiting on the district’s facilities manager, Don Adams’, approval. They want to make sure that the plan written up can be implemented smoothly. 

This campaign does require money, and many people have expressed hesitation due to the financial aspect. Students working on this campaign have tried to limit the upfront costs in as many ways as possible. Grants will help to cover most of these upfront costs. The  new infrastructure bill  that was recently passed by president Joe Biden will provide support from the federal level. On a state level the ‘HB411’ opt in program, will also be a great support. 

“HB411 is a grant that calls on communities to switch to clean energy. This is where most of the money would come from, at the state level,” states Curtis. 

Aside from the upfront costs of switching to solar energy, and electrified versions of other things, the clean energy will save the district a lot of money in the long run. 

Cartwright school district in Arizona saved forty million dollars from switching to clean energy. 

“Just to put forty million in perspective, it costs sixty million dollars to build a new school” stated senior Amanda Merrill. 

This plan would save Granite School District a lot of money in the end, reduce their carbon footprint, and help protect the one Earth that everyone is given. 

Students on the Granite Clean Energy committee are asking for a call to action. Put pressure on your Granite board members, if you are a Taylorsville High School student email board member Nicole McDermott at [email protected] and urge for action regarding Granite Clean Energy. If you attend a different school find your board member at Granite Schools website. 

“I want them to realize that we are serious, we know what we are doing and we are not going to let this go,” states Merrill. 

If you would like to get involved, sign their petition, email your board member, and follow @granitecleanenergy on Instagram to get updates from this committee.