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In many areas, there are large single level parking lots around malls, stadiums, etc.
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.
(??) done
http://www.lgc.org/...jun2002/page02.html
[Laughs Last, Oct 05 2004]
[link]
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The merchants could advertise on the panels - |
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"This parking space shade and resulting electricity provided by See's Candy" |
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I had this idea, but you got there before me, so
(+). There are two options here, either a roof
covering the entire car-park, or individual solar
arrays positioned over every space, probably
cantilevered against each the array covering the
adjacent space. |
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Although the latter design would make a visually
striking parking lot, I think that the former would
be more suitable; it allows for bulkier equipment,
and while the individual solar arrays would have to
be photo-voltaic, that is, electricity-producing,
the roof idea would allow for the ones that
directly heat water as well. |
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I actually wonder why people like Wal-Mart or
Carrefour haven't done this already, it really makes
sense, and as you say, major environmental
brownie points. Someone should probably write to
them. |
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A great idea - but maybe it would be a lot cheaper to just put the panels into the parking lot ground itself. I'm sure someone could come up with a surface that is both strong and could generate heat. That way you don't need all the raised structureal elements. sort of like laying tiles with wires attaching them together and sending electricity back to the store or whatever. Spray 'em down once a month to get rid of dust/oil spills etc. |
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I'd imagine the stores don't do it because the empty space of the parking lot actually has value based on how far away their signs are visible. Putting a shade over the area hides their sign from people parked there. |
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There are many unused rooftops and open places where one might put solar panels. The fact that they are not there suggests a cost/benefit analysis finds them to be too expensive for the return. |
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[bungston] Either that, or just a lack of
imagination on behalf of the populace, which is
endemic in society today. Even if it doesn't
generate any income directly, a green company is
much more attractive to investors, and indeed to
customers, than one stuck in the oil-ridden past. |
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[ye river] I don't think I understand you; what you
seem to be saying is that, if someone is in a car-
park, but can't see the signs to the store which
owns the car-park, then they'll be less likely to go
into the store. If that is what you're saying, I think
we can safely assume that, if someone's inside the
car-park, they got because they wanted to shop at
the shop, and if they're outside, then a roof on
the car-park won't affect the visibility of the signs.
Please explain. |
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[Marquisdenet] I agree, but I think that that would
only work for the water-heating kind of solar
panels, the photo-voltaic ones, which produce
electricity directly, are much more fragile. As far
as I know, you could just do a sort of reverse-
underfloor heating, where pipes carry the heat
away from the tarmac rather than bringing it to it.
Excellent idea, though. |
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Definitely baked in some locations. At this point
photovoltaic panels are just coming down to the price point
where installing them on pre-existing structures makes sense
in moderately sunny or better locations. Having to build an
elaborate structure to place them generally does not make
financial sense. As the cost of panels continues to drop,
however, I expect we will start to see this much more
frequently. |
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Wallie world (Wal-Mart) and similar are starting to be putting in permeable concrete recently in some parts of the USA anyway. It allows water to drain through the concrete and soak in or run off underneath the surface. Good strong permeable concrete has 17% or less 'free space' between the rock and it must be about 1.5X as thick as 'normal' concrete for the same strength. If made with half as much cement and replace it with flyash, it will take longer to harden, but will be just as strong and much 'greener'. To make it last longer, it needs some elastomers added, but that costs abot $15/yard but adds about half again to the life of the concrete (Instead of deteriorating after 20+ years, it will start to deteriorate after 30+ years, kind of a thing). |
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All this to say we can get greener by doing other things to make our parking lots 'green' other than just genrating power. |
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Collecting heat using pipes and liquid is probably the easiest, but it does take some infrastructure installation in the parking lot that many are not willing to 'gamble' on. And collecting heat using large flat plate collectors like this will not collect a lot of 'high quality' heat, but it will collect a lot of 'low quality' heat. My guess is it can collect 10 to 30 deg F above ambient temperatures much of the time, but using that effectively may be an issue. Because using low quality heating / cooling require large storage facilities (think, HUGE tanks). |
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When I was a kid, my dad did do something similar in our back patio. He put garden hose in the patio slab when it was being poured, and by running sprinklers in the yard it kept the concrete bearable for me to play on (think 3 to 5 years old here), and he just watered the grass with the heated water. (Think 1950's for energy conservation... not much thought was put into it back then.) |
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I have seen parking canopies used to mount solar cells on ... a good way to keep the cars cool and get extra use out of the parking areas, without having to drive or park on the solar cells! |
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Even if you can not cover the entire lot due to night lighting , a single row or perimeter row of collectors will provide some shade and power some store lighting or hot water. |
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The nice thing about using parking lots vs other existing structures is you don't have to calculate wind loadings of the preexisting building. |
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