The Lubavitch Yeshiva – International School for Chabad Leadership – Harry & Wanda Zekelman Campus is a faith-based school in Oak Park, Mich., better known as simply the Lubavitch Zekelman Campus, has even more reason to appreciate sunny days now that a new 48.48-kW solar array has been installed on its roof.
The solar array, designed and engineered by GreenLancer.com, is expected to save the school more than $300,000 in energy costs in the next 20 years while at the same time providing a clean, sustainable and environmentally friendly power source for the school.
GreenLancer.com, a web-based solar engineering company that provides sustainable energy engineering solutions to environmentally aware entities, will help offset approximately 10 percent of the Yeshiva’s annual energy costs. The project was funded by Alan and Lori Zekelman, Bloomfield Hills philanthropists who have been the school’s major benefactors for over 25 years.
“The Lubavitcher Rebbe, OBM, under whose leadership this school was founded, was a strong proponent of environmental stewardship. He believed that God bestowed upon us plentiful resources of energy starting with the sun which is freely available to us and much easier to harness than other resources,” said Rabbi Mendel Stein, development director at Lubavitch Yeshiva. “As an institution that embodies these beliefs we are proud to have installed a full array of solar panels so we can actually use one of God’s magnificent resources in a physical way.”
GreenLancer.com, a member of the Quicken Loans Family of Companies, leverages the use of cutting edge technology, cloud computing and crowd sourcing strategies to bring cost effective solar projects to life. GreenLancer.com recently launched a proprietary Virtual Engineering Center that has perfected the art of the feasibility study to aide contractors or facility owners seeking to better assess if solar technology is right for their project.
“The Yeshiva project was a perfect application of our technology,” said Michael Sharber, GreenLancer CEO. “We were thrilled to be able to apply our expertise to a local project that could directly benefit from the ongoing operational and environmental improvements the new system will provide.”
GreenLancer.com recently announced the successful completion of its first round of private funding and is in the process of raising a second fund. The young company has already completed projects in 32 U.S. states, six countries and on four continents including work for notable clients like General Motors, DTE Energy, Occidental Oil, the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Armed Forces in Afghanistan.
GreenLancer.com captured dramatic images of the Yeshiva solar installation using a remote-controlled airborne drone. That footage can be seen here.
— Solar Builder magazine
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