General Motors Installs Solar Rooftops For Free
by Justin Thomas, Virginia 
on 10.21.06
The New York Times is reporting that companies like General Motors are installing solar roofs on their buildings, but the company isn't paying for the installation. The NYT says:
Instead, G.M. and a small but growing number of other companies and municipalities are getting solar energy from systems installed by others. Even though the installations are right on their own roofs, they buy the electricity much as they would from a utility’s grid. And because the companies that paid for the systems will get a steady income, they can provide power from the sun at competitive electricity rates.
Since June, the roof of G.M.’s parts warehouse in Cucamonga, Calif., has been host to a photovoltaic array with the ability to generate as much as 1.5 million kilowatt hours of electricity a year. The installation, which G.M. expects will provide half of the building’s electricity, cost G.M. nothing.
See more here: NYT
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I am trying to find contact information for DEERS, but have been unable to locate any. I am a green buildings engineer, and I am working on several large projects that might be interesting to them.
If anyone has contact information for that group, please email
beubanks - at - stantec.com
Thanks
Yes making all the sides on the electric cars collect solar energy from the wind and steam energy to produce electricity while the car is sittingf outside in the sun all day. So the electric cars can go further than 250 miles but is constantly charged when braking etc.
I am interested in putting a solar roof on the south side of my house roof but unmtil now I do not know where to get the information needed to do this. Glyndon Ross
8107 Brighton Place Ct
Houston, Tx 77095
Dear American Tax Payer:
This is a simple idea to help recover a portion of the money we’ve loaned to GM while at the same time returning Americans to work and further developing our alternative energy program.
Use the un-used GM facilities and workers to manufacture, distribute, and install solar panels.
Our government is already providing incentives for solar panel installations and has promised to further encourage alternative fuels to reduce emissions. Germany and Japan have made great strides in the adoption of solar panels and we could fine-tune our incentives based on those countries successes. In addition, by creating a mass producer of solar panels, the cost of solar panels would decrease making adoption even more likely.
Secondly, the GM bankruptcy has closed several dealerships that had employed mechanics and other skilled workers. The training required to train these skilled workers to install solar panels would (in my opinion) be minimal. The dealerships themselves could become solar panel showrooms and distribution centers.
Production facilities (such as the one in Spring Hill) and supply lines have closed as well. These facilities have experience supplying and making things from of glass, metal, and plastic. They could be re-tooled quickly.
Other workers too could be used…designers, purchasers, engineers, etc - skilled jobs right here in the USA.
This is a simple idea and it could have great potential to save American jobs and stimulate our alternative energy plan. Please give it your consideration and if you think it might work – tell your representatives about it.
A housewife in Tennessee,
Dawn Wetzel