BANGOR – School committee members paid tribute to retiring Superintendent Robert “Sandy” Ervin Wednesday night by naming an innovative solar energy education project in his honor.

The committee’s unanimous decision to name the initiative the Dr. Robert Ervin Green Energy Learning Project came near the end of his last committee meeting at the helm of the city’s public school system.

After speaking of Ervin’s leadership abilities, passion for education, energy and vision, committee member Christine Szal made the motion, which came as a surprise to Ervin, whose retirement becomes official on July 1.

Ervin was moved by the gesture and accompanying words of praise from committee members.

“Sitting here, it’s very hard to believe you’re talking about me,” said Ervin, whose career with the Bangor School Department began in 1969 in a science classroom in the same wing at Bangor High School where the solar project will be housed.

“This project has all the promise in the world,” Ervin said. “It’s about preparing students to use their brains in very novel and different kinds of ways.”

The gesture followed a presentation by one of the teachers and two of the students who have been involved in laying the groundwork for the solar energy project.

The solar energy education project was developed after an emergency staff meeting on Dec. 23 called by Ervin to discuss the school’s energy consumption and its cost implications, according to BHS science teacher Cary James. On Wednesday, James presented to the committee an overview of the project. He was joined by sophomores Elizabeth Farrell and Nabeel Hashmi, who are officers of the school’s Students Ending Environmental Destruction, or SEED, club.

The December meeting prompted some internal discussions about energy, which led to a visit with local energy guru Dr. Richard Hill, University of Maine professor emeritus. That visit triggered research into whether staff and students could create an energy independent classroom.

The students and teachers involved are working with a company called ReVision Energy, which helped develop a similar educational program at Yarmouth High School.

Solar panels and related monitoring equipment will be installed in Room B107 during the summer school vacation, James said.

The solar energy equipment is expected to produce 4,600 kilowatt-hours of electricity a year while reducing carbon dioxide emissions by three tons annually.

Output data and other statistics will be tracked and made accessible via the Internet to students and others from Bangor and beyond.

Ervin became superintendent of Bangor schools on July 1, 2000, after having served a decade in the same system as assistant superintendent.

His nearly 40-year career in education started in 1969 when he landed his first teaching job at Bangor High. After teaching science for two years, he became BHS’ environmental education coordinator for four years.

He then became principal for six years of the Rose M. Gaffney School in Machias, which covers kindergarten through eighth grade. In 1983, he became superintendent of three separate school districts: SAD 63 (Holden area), the Airline CSD (Aurora area), and Dedham.