At present, humanity is facing a dilemma. The first thing is that we all want to live a highly modern lifestyle. Most of us cannot give up our technologically advanced lifestyle. Furthermore, we even want our lifestyle to get better with time. On the other hand, we have only limited resources and reserves of energy to fulfill our demands. Therefore, to sustain, humanity must live an eco-friendly lifestyle. Apart from practicing the 3 Rs (Reduce, Recycle, Reuse), we should also look for renewable sources for our present material and energy needs. The resources that we depend on right now are not only limited, moreover, they also lead to plenty of environment pollution. Therefore, we need to make a quick switch. Dell’s car park shows precisely what humanity needs.
Solar farm from Envision Solar at Dell’s car park
Eco Factor: Solar energy generating car parking will generate 130,000KWh of green electricity annually.
Envision solar has announced the completion of a solar shaded parking structure at Dell’s headquarters in Round Rock, Texas. Called Solar Grove®, the system is designed to produce over 130KW of green power. This will help avoid 65 tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually.
The solar farm consists of 516 photovoltaic panels from BP Solar and was constructed by McBride Electric Inc. and Envision Solar. The structure will provide shaded parking space to 50 cars and carries two solar charging stations for plug-in electric vehicles.
Some Concepts similar to Solar Grove
1. Green P decentralized parking system
Eco Factor: Parking system generates renewable energy for power.
With the number of cars on the road on a constant rise, designers are thinking hard about developing smart parking systems. In future, we would be able to use such assistants without crowding the streets with cars. Industrial designers Algis Berziunas and Laima Rimkute have proposed the Green P parking system that tries to end all woes.
The concept is based on the decentralization of parking systems into many smaller spots. We could then place them in unused spaces such as under flyovers and bridges. The Green P system also includes a lighting system that can replace or supplement ordinary road lights. It would do so by charging them with solar energy generated by panels installed on the Green P’s roof.
2. ‘Meterless’ parking meters
Eco Factor: Solar-powered parking meters.
Gone are the days when parking your car required you to search your pocket for a few coins. The times have changed and today’s era is dominated not by paper money but by plastic money. The city of Ann Arbor in Michigan is testing a new parking system. This system would allow drivers to park their cars for a specified period of time and pay using their credit cards.
Called “E-Park,” the systems makes use of meter heads at parking spaces. These meter heads will carry four-digit numbers that the drivers will have to remember. If your meeting is extending beyond the scheduled time, then that won’t be a problem. You can easily use your phone to extend the parking time by referring to the number you remembered. The best part of the system is that the meters are powered entirely by the energy of the sun. Furthermore, the developers believe that they can function for days without sunshine.
3. Solar powered parking attendants
Do we really need gadgets or technology for every little thing? We mean let’s define its plan of action! Agreed technology is there to make things easier, accurate and simple. However, if we talk about these ‘solar-powered parking attendants’ (a gadget off course) replacing real-time parking attendants (humans). Fine, a machine can stand in the sun and work more efficiently than a human attendant (for that matter). But just imagine the person in-charge will loose his job.
4. Solar parking lot
Eco Factor: Offshore car parking to generate renewable energy.
Of the various ways architects and designers try to capture the sun for energy, concentrating solar power systems seem the most practical and efficient. Designers Klaud Wasiak and Yongbang Ho have created a concept offshore parking area. It generates solar energy to recharge electric cars and add valuable juice to the grid.
Dubbed the Solasis Light Tower, the renewable energy generating parking lot is equipped with a solar power concentrating tower. This tower uses the windshields and hoods of cars as sun tracking and concentrating mirrors. Drivers of the vehicles will also have the option to either use the underground metro line to get back to the city center from the offshore location or walk into the city.
5. Google’s parking lot
Parking lots may be suburban biosphere’s traditional wasteland, but these asphalt acres can still be put to use for environmental and energy sufficiency causes. After a series of environment-friendly ventures, the search giant Google is joining hands with other companies in planting solar panels between the rows of cars parked in the Google’s Mountain View, California.
The panels, while providing a little shade to the parked cars, will be generating clean power enough to power about 1,000 homes! Google’s Mountain View, California, headquarters’ parking lot will be getting a 1.6-megawatt solar system.
6. YBR Parking System
It is nice to see that more and more installations that are out in the open are turning towards solar energy. It makes plenty of sense that when an installation like a street lighting unit or parking system is receiving sunlight all through the day then it might as well tap into this unlimited energy source. There are many major cities that have already turned towards solar lamps or Eco-friendly lamps and even solar dumpsters to cut down on carbon footprint. The YBR parking System is another one of the many parking space designs that has gone solar.
The Parking system has an umbrella on the top that is laced with photovoltaic panels and these panels ensure that there is enough energy supplied to these units 24X7. Of course, some sort of backup power source is still essential for the rainy days and on the surplus days, it can send power back to the grid. Apart from the solar shade, it comes with units that offer you help with various things like broad input voltage solar inverters, maps, information regarding the current location, directions to your destination and NFC system that syncs up with specific apps in your smartphone.
It also provides with help numbers, QR-codes and company information as well. You can use both coins and a credit card slot and a keyboard integrated into the unit will ensure that you can enter the required information. It is 2.65 meters in height and the Parking System with its solar panel installation can function almost independently with simple regular updates.