Marines Go Green with Solar Power
United States military bases are a great place to start utilizing the renewable resource options that we now have available to us. Unfortunately, there has been slow adoption of this green technology on many bases. But, luckily, that is starting to change. One great example of the change is Camp Lejeune, a Marine Corps base located in North Carolina. This base is rapidly becoming one of the largest neighborhoods in the country to use solar energy for heating water. Hopefully their success is just the start of a new trend!
Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base is home to hundreds of Marine Corps families. Many of these families now have large rectangular solar panels sitting on the roofs of their homes. When the current project for the neighborhood is complete, 900 homes in this military community will be topped with these solar panels. The panels heat the water for the neighborhood.
So how do these solar panels work? Well, of course the panels collect the energy from the sun. The energy then heats a fluid that runs down through pipes into the home. The fluid creates heat for the 40-gallon water tank inside of the home. Temperatures of the water can reach about 180 degrees, which is sufficient as hot water for many home tasks. In fact, solar panel energy like this has the potential to heat three quarters of the hot water that is used in the average home. The system used at Camp Lejeune has been created by a company called FLS Energy that hopes to bring this type of solar energy to other military bases in the near future.
This use of solar energy on base is important for reasons that go beyond just generating interest in this important renewable resource. That's because the hot water bills for this neighborhood are paid for by the United States government (since the military pays utility bills for families living on base). Although there is an initial investment cost required for the installation of the solar panels, this could result in significant long-term energy savings for the military. If adopted by other military bases throughout the nation, this could be a great way to reduce electricity waste while saving the nation a lot of money.
Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127985314
Publish Date: 2010-06-29 10:35:36
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