The three megawatts of clean energy is equal to: NOT driving a car 8.4 million miles, powering 2,000 homes, saving 6.4 million pounds of greenhouse gases each year, planting 98,000 trees or removing 722 cars from the road.

How do you NOT drive a car 8.4 million miles? The new High Tech Elementary and High Tech Middle Chula Vista students know.

They recently helped do just that by adding a San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E)-owned solar system to their school's rooftop -- as well as adding solar to their curriculum.

This work marks the 25th project like this for SDG&E's "Sustainable Communities Program," which now totals three megawatts of clean energy. This energy goes back onto the grid which benefits each of the project's surrounding community. The three megawatts of clean energy is equal to: NOT driving a car 8.4 million miles, powering 2,000 homes, saving 6.4 million pounds of greenhouse gases each year, planting 98,000 trees or removing 722 cars from the road.

Flip that switch!

Dave Geier, vice president of Electric Operations for SDG&E helped the High Tech Elementary and High Tech Middle Chula Vista students flip the switch for their rooftop solar system, marking the third solar project SDG&E has done with the charter school.

The effort includes a curriculum where students learn about renewable energy and energy efficiency.

The schools are seeking LEED Platinum certification from the US Green Building Council and were designed to be nearly 26 percent more energy efficient than required by California Building Codes. Because of these efforts, Geier also presented the school with the "SDG&E Sustainable Champions Award" and a check for $83,000 from the energy efficiency incentives the school was able to receive.

Sustainable communities are growing...

Geier spoke to hundreds of students in the audience about how SDG&E is creating sustainable communities throughout the region.

"Moving forward, Sustainable Communities Program projects will incorporate advanced energy storage and electric vehicle charging stations," said Geier. "These will serve as models for SDG&E's smart grid that will ultimately predict and ‘intelligently' respond to the changing needs and actions of customers by efficiently delivering sustainable energy when it's most needed."

The Sustainable Communities Program focuses on solar, fuel cells and energy storage for schools, municipal facilities, large multi-family mixed use developments. The program team collaborates with builders to construct sustainable green buildings that are highly energy efficient.