A school bus sits outside Johnson Senior High School in St. Paul, Minn., Sept. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Doug Glass)
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – When students would come to the nurse’s office at Johnson Senior High School in St. Paul, Minnesota, complaining of headaches and feeling too hot, Rebecca Randall was always ready. She would hand out water bottles, apply ice packs and ask the students to remove their hoodies and extra layers. Even the nurse’s office didn’t guarantee a refuge for students, sometimes reaching 85 degrees Fahrenheit.
But that was then. Last fall the school installed a heat pump cooling system, a type that makes use of the cooler temperatures underground. Now the school is no longer counted among the roughly 36,000 in the U.S. that the Government Accountability Office said need their heating and cooling systems updated.
Thousands of schools across the country have installed ground source heat pumps recently. “The interest from K-12 schools is off the charts,” said Jack DiEnna, founder of the Geothermal National & International Initiative, one of the main voices in the business.
Jeff Hammond, executive director of the International Ground Source Heat Pump Association, agreed, pointing out that schools can now get 30% of their costs for new systems reimbursed through the Inflation Reduction Act. That’s in recognition of the fact that they cool the air very well using little electricity. Only ground source heat pumps are eligible under the IRA, not air source heat pumps that are installed above ground and are more common.
At her school in St. Paul, Randall saw that lack of air conditioning had become a major problem for students and staff. Now, she said there are fewer headaches and the cooler air even helps the students manage their mental health.
“When you have anxiety and you get overheated, that ups anxiety,” said Randall. “So they come and get ice … but I’m not seeing that as much now with our air conditioning,” she said.
This year was the first time the high school was able to host summer school rather than having kids go somewhere else.
“I think the staff and students have been ecstatic about air conditioning. It’s been really well received and something that has been a game-changer for us,” said Tom Parent, former executive director of operations and administration at Saint Paul Public Schools.
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