By their very nature, grocery stores use lots of power. Big lighting grids, coolers and freezers devour electricity like a large SUV guzzles gasoline.
The people who operate the Linden Hills Co-op have taken smaller steps to reduce their usage, but today they took a big one, with the installation of a solar collection system.
"We've done all of the cost saving measures we can in terms of energy efficiency, insulation, fluorescent bulbs," said Co-op General Manager Paula Gilbertson. "We tried to take it as far as we could that way, this is just the next evolution."
The system involves 54 solar collection panels mounted on the co-ops roof. Once the sun's energy is tapped, it goes to an inverter that turns it into electricity, which goes directly towards the co-ops usage.
Once fully optional, the system should provide 10 to 15 percent of the co-op's total power needs ? the equivalent of what three average households would use.
"By installing these 54 panels, we will remove approximately three households (worth of energy demand) from the grid," Gilbertson said.
Making the project even more unique, is the fact that more than 300 people made some type of contribution to the solar system's $60,000 cost.
(Copyright 2007 by KARE. All Rights Reserved.)
