The West LA College is generating 350 kilowatt-hours of energy for it's campus and they aren't afraid to show it. (At least that's what it said when I checked it.) Go ahead check it out yourself, link here and see how much power it's creating.
Who ever thought that making/saving energy could also have such a cool marketing edge to it? West LA College serves 12,000 students on campus and on-line. That means that 12,000 students can learn first hand the benefit of converting a parking lot into an energy creating machine.
That's marketing in the same way that Apple made Macs a driving force in computers, i.e. get 'embed' with the next generation of buyers. Once you've seen what is possible in school, it's hard to go back to the old way of thinking. And until these watchable energy systems are as ubiquitous as thermostats, the cool factor will get passed on in blogs like this. That's more free marketing for the college that is part of the Los Angeles Community College District and for Solar City, the business behind the panels and the monitoring sites.
Solar City also serves the residential market. Now that the students are accustomed to parking under solar panels it'll be easier for them to imagine panels on their own homes.
On March 30th, the campus dedicated the 1000 space solar parking structure and celebrated its 40-year anniversary with festivities and music from the 60s - giving new meaning to, "Talking 'bout my generation..."
