Joni Mitchell take heed…there’s a silver lining to parking lots after all. Turns out they’re a great place to put solar panels. Any carport or parking lot can be transformed into a solar paradise that generates power for nearby buildings, provides shade for the cars and mitigates the nasty “heat island’ effect that all that asphalt generates in urban areas.
The carport concept could be helpful for homeowners who want to go solar but have roofs with too much shade. But the real impact will be in office parks and shopping centers with those giant lots that bake in the sun. Next time you get into your 120 degree car/sauna, just imagine if all that heat were channeled into electricity.
And speaking of cars, tune in next week for a special driver’s ed crash course on how to drive for maximum fuel efficiency. Even if you’ve got a Prius, there are still a surprising number of techniques that can dramatically improve your gas mileage.
–Erica Etelson
