In 2023, President Biden set a U.S. goal of achieving carbon free power sector by 2035 and net zero emissions by 2050. This ambitious goal will require new energy generation strategies, including sola..
In 2023, President Biden set a U.S. goal of achieving carbon free power sector by 2035 and net zero emissions by 2050. This ambitious goal will require new energy generation strategies, including solar photovoltaic (PV) farms. Most solar farms have been built on rural, undeveloped land. While cheap, the use of this land destroys ecosystems, reduces farmland, and creates losses due to long transmission distances. By moving solar generation to urban areas these problems are mitigated but introduces a new problem of where to put them. Solar canopies aim to fix that issue by using already existing parking lots. This solution has already been tested and implemented around the world. Due to our car centric infrastructure Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University campus has an excess of parking lots with 41.37 acres available for solar canopies. An array of that size could generate 38.6 GWh of electricity per year. Between 2020 and 2021 Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University used 47.5 GWh. At Daytona’s current energy price of 8.72¢/kWh, solar canopies would save the school $3.36M each year. The installation cost of such an array would be recouped within 8-10 years. Solar canopies also offer multiple benefits to the cars under them from reduced temperatures, protection from the elements and easy installation of electric vehicle chargers. Installation of solar canopies on the Embry-Riddle Daytona Campus would reduce the school’s carbon massively footprint, save the school money, provide better parking conditions, and allow for easy and cheap installation of electric vehicle chargers, without negatively impacting the ecosystem.
