May 5
Energizing
Posted by AG under: Green; High-tech .
Everyone stands to gain from smart public-private partnerships. The combined leveraging of public resources with private expertise and capital can produce win-win results. Or, in this example from the North Carolina Zoological Park, electricity.
Three new picnic shelters next to the Zoo’s North America section have rooftop solar panels that generate electricity. The 9,600 square feet of solar panels can generate a projected 130,000 kilowatt hours annually. That’s enough power to supply 13 average homes.
The panels were installed by Carolina Solar Energy (CSE ) of Durham, which also built the picnic shelters and gave them to the zoo. The zoo paid for the shelters’ concrete pads, footings and some other expenses.
CSE sells the electricity to Randolph Electric Membership Corporation. Plus it receives a subsidy from N.C. Green Power, a non-profit that supports production of electricity through alternative sources such as solar and wind.
Benefits:
• The Zoo gets a very cool demonstration project and high-tech picnic shelters.
• CSE gets another high-profile installation (the first is at NCSU) that proves the viability of its technology and business model.
• Because of fossil fuels not burned to generate electricity, we all get cleaner air and decreased production of greenhouse gases.
How’s the system working? Check here for current and cumulative electrical output.
Greensboro has plenty of publicly-owned rooftops. When will one of them start generating electricity? Or become a truly green roof?
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