| UC San Diego Plants Solar Trees |
| Written by Jaymi Heimbuch | ||
| Tuesday, 09 September 2008 | ||
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I am starting to get frustrated that most parking lots and structures don’t already have these – how absolutely perfect are they? Everyone wants to park in the shade or in a sheltered spot, and businesses can always use the extra energy. Anyway, the trees also provide outlets so that students and faculty with plug-in hybrids and EVs can utilize the energy collected, which is a serious incentive for people who are considering buying hybrids…free energy? Yes, please. The best part for UCSD is that the trees were covered by three local companies, so the university is billed monthly for the electricity received, but didn’t have to provide any initial investment. The solar trees are intended to be functional as well as look cool, with "trunks" and "branches." This kind of biomimicry is beginning to grow, with designers working to blend solar panels into environments in a more natural-ish way. Each tree can generate more than 17,000 hours of energy annually. This kind of green initiative could be great for a whole lot of other universities. Hopefully they get the green bug and start “planting.” Via The Earth Times
Comments
(6)
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written by boohoo , September 09, 2008
Relativistic trees
written by Dave , September 09, 2008
These trees must exist in a strange parallel relativistic universe if they produce energy 17,000 hours per year. There are only about 8,760 hours in a year and that includes the dark times too.
17'000 hours
written by Clinch , September 09, 2008
I think it means 17'000 kWh, (so over the 8760 hours, an average of just under 2 kW per hour).
This seems like an excellent and practical use of the technology, but as 'Boohoo' pointed out, the problem is the bureaucracy behind being able to implement this.
too cool
written by cannon , September 09, 2008
so how cool would it be to roll into your local big box store parking lot that's a big as a football field, and park in the shade?? and then, after filling your hemp shopping bags, exiting to find it raining, but not getting wet walking to your prius?? the fact that the store is off the grid(during the day anyway) and possabilly feeding green power back into the grid is just gravey. how soon can we talk my local big boxes into these things???
Solomon Richard
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written by boohoo , September 10, 2008 how soon can we talk my local big boxes into these things??? As soon as they can pay for it. With the recession and dropping retail sales it’s unlikely they will find the capital to start such project. CVS and Kohls are two good examples of companies trying just what you suggested, but both programs have stalled to some degree due to cost and more importantly due to the expiration of state incentive programs. For example, Kohls is only testing the market with 22 stores getting solar panels on their roofs with an eventual goal of 40. With the slow market don't be surprised if they don't even get close to 22. Also don’t forget sometimes the stores don’t own the parking lot or the property, so who precisely do you expect to foot the bill? The property owners will NEVER pay for this kind of stuff out of pocket, let alone the additional design issues of seismic resistance for those panels ending up in California parking lots. Essentially it would have to be designed for the site from day one. Only government facilities are going to try this type of stuff on a large scale. |
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UCSD is a sunny campus, and they’re taking advantage of it. As a way to capture more renewable energy, they’ve planted 
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This is precisely why you don't see them everywhere at State universities. It’s not cheap and the project design has to be approved through DSA (FYI - Division of the State Architect). This is not the same as when a individual goes to the city and asks for a building permit. DSA rejects stuff all the time, so to get something like this rolling requires an architect, engineer and contractor who are familiar with the workings of DSA. In the end it’s very costly and few state colleges can afford it (especially with the expiration of many the rebates that were being offered). The most likely successful scenario would include a power-purchase agreement, but that involves more than one investing party, a bank and sometimes even the builder gets a slice of the pie. Maybe your expectations for this type of green building should be directed towards private colleges with big endowments?