I've always decried the lack of solar power awareness, pilot project, full-throttle examples and broad utilization in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and so on. Really. As a reporter and professor in those environs, I was beginning in the 1980s to see how delusional it was to not to have as much solar PV, solar concentrated collectors turning turbines and innovative passive (for the summer) and deep solar storage projects (winter) up and running.
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Schools, too. The LEED gold at Spokane Falls Community College, Building 24, is a bit of a joke. LEED Gold can be achieved by having bike lock racks and showers for bicyclists. Not one solar panel, and the building is positioned the WRONG way.
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Some get it right. A 3.5-megawatt solar array, one of the largest solar-power projects among college campuses in the country, will be set not in the 362 sun days a year places like Arizona, California, or Nevada. We're talking Jersey.
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William Paterson University of New Jersey. Solar panels being built will provide 20 percent of the school's power needs as well as shade parking lots on the campus from summertime rays.
Read the full piece in the CHRONICLE of Higher Education:
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"New Jersey is a hotbed of solar power. Last year it surpassed 4,000 residential and commercial solar installations, making it second only to California in sheer numbers and first in the country in solar power per square mile. That activity is driven largely by state tax incentives and regulations that benefit companies and institutions that want to go solar, colleges and universities among them."
The example that is being set by this University is amazing. The picture alone you show is worth 1,000 words. What a great example that should be seen by many and adopted by even more. We must find ways to further the solar energy cause and attract more people to invest in the future of the environment and the world we live in.
ReplyDeleteEven here in Spokane, WA, we have the Main Market putting up awnings for both blocking sun and rain and collecting sun to generate energy for the food co-op's lights. Double win-win situation.
ReplyDeleteSolar cells have been used to power calculators, outdoor light fixtures, street lights, satellites, water heating systems, air conditioners and heaters.
ReplyDeletesolar panels new jersey