In California, Carports That Can Generate Electricity

First Name: Elias

Current Event Posting Number: 2

Topic: Technology/Science

Title: In California, Carports That Can Generate Electricity

Writer:  Felicity Barringer

Publication Name: New York Times

Date of Publication: November 25, 2010

Length; about 700 words

In California, Carports That Can Generate Electricity

Walter Hood, a designer from Oakland, sees the “seeds of new urban aesthetic“ in Photovoltaics.The state government and various banks have teamed up to forme solar panel arreys for innstallation on public school sites.Solar carports can be found on 75 elementry, high schools and community college campuses in California.But schools were not the first to have solar carports; Google was first, installing photovoltaic panels on top of their parking lot in Mountain View, California, three years ago.Brad Parker, a consultant on a solar carport project for the San Luis Coastal Unified School District in central California, remarked that “Schoolchildren are growing up with it, so it becomes ingrained in their perception of how a society functions.”John Cimino, the director of maintenance, operations and transportation for the Milpitas Unified School District, said that 75% of his electricity needs are fulfilled by solar panels.A spokesman for Pacific Gas and Electric said that the overall solar energy capacity grew from 327 kilowatt to 15.5 megawatts from 2008 to 2009.

Although the system seems great, many people claim to dislike the “visual blight“.Walter Hood announced that designer will be able to change the look of solar panels into a “beguiling surface treatment“.  They might become as familiar as fire hydrants one day.

Conclusion:

Solar carports seem to be a good way to get cheap and non-polluting energy, for schools and colleges. In particular, schoolchildren learn to take care of the environment. Although the panels do not look great, designers are actively working on making them less obvious.

My opinion:

I think solar carports will take over a big part of the energy production. They produce clean energy and do not need an extra place. Even though they might not look very interesting yet.