During hot weather, cars parked in those lots get really hot inside. One of the easiest solutions is to have covered parking so the sun doesn't shine directly on the cars, but generally that's not cost effective for a mall owner.

Solar energy is also a technology that is currently not cost effective in most cases. But what if the cost of solar installation was reduced by making the real estate free, and getting additional value from the installation by using it as a sun shade above parking lots?

The parking lot owner benefits by giving shaded parking to their customers and getting "green" publicity. The utility gets a convenient location to install the panels or reflectors with no real estate costs, and has a nice paved surface to work from when doing maintenance.

The cost of the installation might be increased slightly since the pannels will need to be high enough to drive under, but it seems like that might be offset by the fact that the area is already level and paved. The parking lot owner might also be willing to pitch in a bit on the cost since they are getting some benefit as well. There shouldn't be problems with people complaining about how it looks since parking lots are ugly to begin with.