Ponoco NASCAR goes Solar Powered
In the continuing trend for sports facilities to turn to solar power to supplement their energy usage, motor sports does not want to be left way behind on the racetrack.
NASCAR takes a position on the grid in the solar energy staked with Pocono Raceway setting up a solar farm to help power their stadium. With the installation of around 40,000 solar panels the track hopes to generate at least 3 megawatts of power from clean sources. The site which is being developed on a former parking lots will cover an area of 25 acres.
The track, with ever increasing energy costs, was facing a US$500,000 dollar electrical bill for a years running and looking at ways to offset the cost they came up with solar.
Buildings like sports arenas and racetracks are the ideal type of building to implement solar energy as they are not always running events or being used to their full capacity. The solar installations work producing electricity during those quite spells and this allows the facilities to sell the excess electricity back to utility companies and giving the stadiums a nice extra income.
The initial upfront costs and many people always bring this up as a negative aspect of going solar is quite a large sum. For Ponoco Raceway this will set them back US$17 million for the project but with the savings on utility expeces and extra income selling the generated electricity it wont take long to break even. In addition as always the most important aspect here is the energy is clean and you can`t really put a cost on the benefits of reduction pollutants.
I’m sure NASCAR fans would like to know that the gas guzzling CO2 emitting race cars will not be going solar powered ….. just yet. The typical car on the track will get around 3 or 4 miles per gallon of fuel and over all the sport is not very environmentally friendly. Every little bit of green thinking helps and this one can be welcomed without spoiling anybodys fun.
Racing first took place at Ponoco in 1968 and throughout its history has had a few financial problems that nearly forced the end of racing. This new cost saving project could see the tracks future a lot brighter for many years to come.
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