Solar Power Shines in Pasadena
The non-profit, CALSTART, unveiled an 84.5 kilowatt solar array at its Chester Avenue headquarters in Pasadena Monday.
Gordon Tokumatsu, Hernan Vazquez
The non-profit, CALSTART, unveiled an 84.5 kilowatt solar array at its Chester Avenue headquarters in Pasadena Monday. CALSTART works with companies to help them find cleaner transportation options, electric fleet cars and hybrid trucks, to name a few. Project manager Jean-Baptiste Gallo says the building has energy leftover to sell back to the utility. Gordon Tokumatsu reports from Pasadena for the NBC4 News at 6 p.m. on June 25, 2012.
A new solar installation on a building in Pasadena could be a showcase for others to follow when it comes to generating green, clean power.
The non-profit, CALSTART, unveiled an 84.5 kilowatt solar array at its Chester Avenue headquarters in Pasadena Monday.
CALSTART works with companies to help them find cleaner transportation options, electric fleet cars and hybrid trucks, to name a few, and they lead by example.
"A lot of our employees started buying electric cars, and we had a couple here for the company itself," said CEO John Boesel.
But electric cars need electric power and charging stations.
The problem is, if those plugs are connected to coal-burning plants, the carbon footprint remains large. So they looked upward for their power source.
"It's the future of building; it's the future of transportation, as well," said project manager Jean-Baptiste Gallo.
About 260 solar panels were built over the building's very sunny back parking lot.
It provides shade for the employees and their cars and enough energy to pull the building off the Pasadena power grid.
"We are basically a power plant right now," Gallo said.
The building's energy-sucking computer servers, lights, plugged-in vehicles and air conditioning are now powered solely by the sun, and there’s energy left over to sell back to the utility.
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