How much energy can a parking lot generate?

Renewable energy use protects health, habitat, and natural resources by reducing the pressures to build new power plants and related infrastructure. Opportunities to incorporate renewable energy production can be found in many institutional facilities and throughout existing urban spaces. Can such opportunities do more than simple generate energy? The Clinton Foundation seeks to be a leader in mitigating climate change by expanding the use of renewable energy at the LEED Platinum Clinton Presidential Center, with the ultimate goal of achieving “net zero” operations. Expanding renewable energy use at the Center offers a high-profile demonstration of the Obama Better Buildings Challenge, which the Clinton Foundation helped develop. Moreover, renewable installations directly support the growth of the clean energy industry. While solar energy is abundant, the relatively low efficiency of photovoltaic (PV) panels requires large areas to meet the energy needs for buildings. The Center currently employs a roof-mounted photovoltaic array to supply a small fraction of its annual power consumption (about 60 thousand out of a total of 9.9 million kWh). The existing PV arrays cover a large part of the roof, while the balance is a green roof – leaving little opportunity for PV expansion on the building. Ennead Lab studied options to provide abundant PV area on non-roof surfaces.