The April 23rd, 2009 edition of the Livermore Independent has an article about the newly installed 18,000 sqaure foot array of solar cells on the rooftop of the Livermore Cinema.
The installation is expected to provide about 190,000 Kilowatt Hours of electrical energy to the Theater per year. This is comparable to the amount of energy needed to supply the yearly needs of 18 average households.
The cells were designed and manufactured by Solyndra Corp of Fremont. Their cells are unusual in a several ways: 1) They are cylindrical in shape 2) They are mounted on racks above a reflective surface and 3) The are mounted with enough space between each cell to allow wind and sunlight to pass through.
The cylindrical shape maximizes the capture of the sunlight above throughout the entire day. And the spaces between the cells not only minimize the possiblity damage from the wind, but they also allow sunlight to reflect from the rooftop back to the underside of the cell. Very efficient.
All too often, the decision for a business or individual to GO SOLAR is undermined by the fact that the system does not pay for itself quickly enough with energy savings.
With that fact in mind, there is another aspect about this installation that is interesting. Livermore Cinema did not buy the system. They leased it instead.
The option to lease frees people from the huge upfront costs of going SOLAR and seems to be a great way to get people to take the solar plunge. According to the article, the system saves the Livermore Cinema 45% on its monthly electric bill. That, along with rebates and
incentives outweighs the cost of the lease. So the installation is a win for the theater in the very first month. Huzzah!
Over the course of the next 25 years, the installation at the Theater will reduce the need to generate 3,400 metric tons of green house gases from conventional power plants. My movie popcorn is starting to taste better already.
Kyle Design is a Livermore-based business too, providing high quality unique personalized gifts online. Kyle has a wide variety of items with eco-friendly themes and images, including business card holders, decorative switch plates, wall plates, night lights, money clips and bookmarks.
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