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The Parking Lot as 'Solar Grove'

Posted July 07, 2010 7:48 AM

From NYT > Science:

One day early in 2004, Robert Noble, an architect specializing in sustainable design, asked himself why parking lots in the United States weren't covered in solar panels and used to generate clean energy. A few firms had been building carports with solar panels for some time, but none had acquired a major presence or branched out much beyond the residential market. "Parking lots are this wasteland - they're the last thing that gets attention," Mr. Noble said in an interview. "Here's a market the size of Alpha Centauri that's never been tapped."

Original article published in the Science section of the New York Times.

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Anonymous Poster
#1

Re: The Parking Lot as 'Solar Grove'

07/07/2010 10:11 AM

It's a nice, happy, green-y idea.

But with a ROI of around a decade (correct me if I'm wrong), I'm not sure how many companies are going to eagerly jump on that bandwagon.
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Drew K
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#2
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Re: The Parking Lot as 'Solar Grove'

07/07/2010 10:29 AM

I would say you would have much less than a decade around here (west Texas). The sun is strong and consistent, but your real return is a crowded store! If a local grocery store offered this, the Wal-Mart parking lot would be empty of drivers seeking a shaded place to park. Many apartment buildings already build car-ports for most of their parking lots, this would be more expensive, but would attract "Green" interests too.

If I had a local business, I would jump all over this bandwagon!

Drew

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DTAInc
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#3

Re: The Parking Lot as 'Solar Grove'

07/08/2010 1:10 PM

As I understand it, PV technology has a 10- and even 15 year ROI; however no one seems to want to talk about the impact to ROI by the fact that the useful life of the wafer chips is at 5-7 years. Thin film and other technologies may change that, but the PV world is competing with the computer world for silicon. My position would be that the real reasons for PV (there are other/better solar technologies) is to change your impact to/on our global resources.

By the way, when traveling in China, you see these parking lot solar fields commonly. But then again, they also put vegetable gardens on their roofs for insulation and self-sufficiency. I think we're behind the curve... Just saying...
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