With the array of choices for installing solar energy panels in homes, cars, planes and whatever comes to our creative minds it is kind of inevitable for everyone to follow. Aside from the fact that you can make money by saving your salary by cutting of your electricity bill you can also help the environment as well. There are limitless possibilities in using solar energy and like we all know it won’t stop there just yet.
In Knox County, Tennessee they are planning to build a major solar farm for them to be able to acquire solar power to heat water at their local detention unit with a capacity of 1,036 beds. Their officials are expecting a great amount of money to be saved when this came true, well an annual amount of $60,000 as a saving is definitely big and also they are expecting to lower down CO2 emissions by 174 tons in a year.
The installation of the solar energy hot water installation boasts of 300 solar collectors, and can create and store up to fourteen thousand (14,000) gallons of hot water in one day. “The solar farm is an important step forward both fiscally and environmentally,” say Mayor Mike Ragsdale. “From the cost-savings, we can provide services to our citizens with money we were using to pay energy bills. Environmentally, we are following the advice of our own Knox County Green Team and tapping into alternative energy sources. In this case, that resource is sunshine, which is readily available here in the south.”
“The [EECBG] program is an important part of Gov. Phil Bredesen’s strategy to invest in cost-effective clean energy resources in Tennessee,” told Commissioner Matt Kisber of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. “The EECBG grants will help Knox County to lead by example in their energy conservation efforts, while reducing energy bills in the short term and supporting Tennessee’s rapidly growing clean energy economy in the long term.”
