The power of the sun

Our company is now running on solar energy! The solar panels were purchased last year and installed over a period of months this spring but over this past week-end, the switch was thrown and today we're running on power generated by the sun. We have over 130 employees and have a LOT of power hungry equipment (we manufacture all of our products here) and it's nice to know that we reduced our dependence on fossil fuels.

In the picture, a view from Google Maps, you can see the two buildings that comprise our entire company. If you click on the picture to show it larger, you'll see two red arrows in the upper left portion of the photo. The left one (pointing down) is pointing to one of the solar panels. So, you can see that there a lot of panels. The roofs of our two buildings are flat so it was relatively easy to find places for the panels and mount them. It was interesting to be working here while the panels were lifted into position and mounted on the roof. Many times it sounded like things were dropped and we all jumped a few feet in the air from the sound. Then they had to all be connected. Then the equipment to turn the direct current from the solar panels into alternating current for our equipment had to be installed. But now it's all done. Our computers and other equipment can't tell the difference. Electricity is electricity.

Another thing to notice in the picture is a second red arrow pointing to a red ellipse near the top of the picture. That's my scooter! This picture must have been taken early in the year when I was the only one riding a two-wheeled vehicle into work. Usually there will be two or three motorcycles in that area, too. If you look hard, you can also see people out walking around the parking lot. Many people get their exercise that way. I prefer to walk in the woods behind the building on the left.

One last thing to notice in the picture is the amazing number of cracks in our parking lot.