Pittsburgh Looking to Boost Solar Power Use
Pittsburgh may be the next center of solar power in the U.S. Yes, that Pittsburgh.
On Monday Mayor Luke Ravenstahl held a day-long seminar with planning and development types on the potential for solar power in the Steel City. The mayor said city government will install a solar hot water heating system, a first for the city, at a to-be-determined firehouse.
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City government will take a closer look at solar power to see what problems and promise there may be in Western Pennsylvania for the technology. The government is currently working with Sandia National Laboratory to examine how to bring solar to public buildings and lower the obstacles to putting solar power on private property.
When you consider that Pittsburgh was chosen as the setting for the cold, snowy, gray parts of the screen adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic The Road, it may not be the first city that springs to mind for having the potential to use a lot of solar power.
However, the city was named one of 25 “Solar America Cities” in 2007 by the U.S. Department of Energy, a designation that gave it access to $200,000 in grants for solar projects. And a DOE official at Monday’s event noted that Germany and other European countries are now lauded for their solar power installations, and Pittsburgh gets more sun than many of those locales.
After all, if folks in Antarctica and Minnesota can find ways to use solar, why not Pittsburgh?
Photo credit: jmd41280 on Flickr, via a Creative Commons license.
Maybe not the best picture of Pittsburgh to include with this article…
I was giggling at the photo, too! Sounds like they do have enough sunny days, though. Cool!
Solar probably never will be the prime source of power in Great Lakes states. But if photovoltaics can be done cheaply enough that they replace some use of non-renewables at a not-prohibitive net cost, then why not. Of course, the question becomes how much the public sector should pay for this.
The picture seemed like a good contrast.
The picture is perfect. If Germany can beat us as a whole nation in solar power installed, with the same grimy atmosphere as those Northeastern rustbelt cities, why don’t we try it there too.
We’ll always have the sunbelt states to fall back on.
i like the idea of using solar power in pittsburgh. i hope it goes well. i’ve heard of “solar grants” just yesterday at work - maybe this is what those are for
there’s nothing wrong with Great Lakes states for solar - a common misperception is that we’re too cold and gray, but in fact most solar panels operate better in the cold weather, which offsets the lower amount of sunlight to a fair degree.
and I’d argue that lowering pollution from coal-fired plants makes the change a worthy public sector project (good grief, if we can bail out Wall St fat cats, why not!) - we as a society could see lowered health care costs by reducing the asthma and other respiratory problems which come with the dirty power.
Having lived in Pittsburgh, well, I gotta say I’m a skeptic. But good for them for trying!
Why not take more advantage of the moving water in the THREE RIVERS and the WIND over the hills. Seems like these would be more reliable energy sources.
Also, good luck trying to sell the panels when they will just be covered in snow 40% of the year. Oh and you will have to fight the Big Coal and Nuclear in that state also.
GO STEELERS!