Community Corner
City Hall Could be Equipped with Solar Panels
The Committee for a Better Environment considered the feasibility of solar panels on the roof of City Hall, and debated a College Park emissions report at Monday's meeting.
College Park might get free solar panels on its roof if City Council acts quickly enough to take advantage of disappearing funds, according to a group interested in installing them.
“It’s free for the city,” president of the University Park Community Solar LLC David Brosch said at a meeting Monday with the city's (CBE). “We get use of the roof for solar panels and the city gets discounted electricity.”
Brosch said his group would find investors to put solar panels on the roof and sell the electricity back to the city at steeply discounted rates.
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The solar panels would only support a fraction of City Hall’s electricity use.
Brosch said his group completed a similar project at the Church of the Brethren in University Park. He was originally optimistic about the city’s chances of putting solar panels on City Hall, but recently things have been looking more difficult because of time constraints and possible renovations to the building.
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“The benefits of the project will hopefully carry the day,” Brosch said.
Brosch’s group plans to rely on stimulus funds that will no longer be available at year’s end, he said. City Council will discuss the matter at its July 5 work session to determine if the deadline is feasible.
Community Emissions Inventory Report
The CBE also suggested additions to improve its draft of a report that allows the committee to determine which businesses in the area should improve green energy use.
Possible new categories for the Community Emissions Inventory Report include gases and particles from wood stoves, and the potential positive effects of trees.
The committee also debated the best way to measure car emissions in the city and suggested obtaining heating data from gas companies.
Monica Saavedra, an intern funded by the CBE who presented the report on Monday, said the University of Maryland was previously the biggest emissions culprit. Saavedra said the school has since made a commitment to “greening” itself with students voting to tax themselves to fund emissions-reducing research - one of the biggest highlights of the report, she said.
