ORN#11 Big Solar @ Google

Hi friends,

Here’s our latest video entry, ORN#11 Big Solar @ Google: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LI_7WlPFNw



In this video, Carrick gets a special tour at Google headquarters of their solar installation. At the time it was built a few years ago, it was the largest solar panel installation in the country by a company. Other companies have since built even larger solar installations, but the point of this video is to show an example of a company that went solar as a business investment, so it makes sense for homes AND for big businesses.

This visit was a hard one to set up – Google probably gets more media requests than they can handle. I read an interview with our tour guide in the video, Anthony, and I was persistent in getting through until I could talk with Anthony directly and he was happy to show us around. They’ve covered pretty much every available rooftop space with solar panels – over 9,000 panels altogether. They even covered the parking lots with solar carports, which charge plug-in electric cars for employees to use.

One of the local private schools in Worcester just added a big solar panel installation on their rooftop; I drove by the other day to have a look and I couldn’t see it. It’s installed on a flat roof so it’s not visible from the road. How many huge buildings with unused, open flat roofs are in your area? All those big-box retail stores are a good example. Even for people who think solar panels on home rooftops look strange, we could cover so many large buildings with flat, open roofs and you’d never even see it. That’s one thing we could do to incorporate renewables, one of many.

Be well,
Colin & Carrick