VA in Loma Linda: Power of the Sun
The VA hospital in Loma Linda has an incredible 1,600 panel solar set-up on its roof.
Many green technology supporters say the federal government's recent embrace of investing in this kind of product is a crucial boost to the green economy.
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By Robert Rogers
SAN BERNARDINO -- Standing atop the four-story hospital, bathed in sunlight and surrounded by power-soaking crystaline silicon panels, Larry Barrett said it felt good to be first.
"Nothing this huge has ever been done at one of our hospitals," said Barrett, energy manager of the Jerry L. Pettis Memorial VA Medical Center. "It makes you proud."
On Friday, about a dozen laborers were hammering through the latter stages of a massive installation job. When complete, 1,600 solar panels will sit atop the roof of the federal hospital, an arsenal of ray-catchers that should reduce the hospital's electricity costs by more than $60,000 a year.
The system, which Barrett said should be catching and converting electric energy by mid-August, is part a federal effort to produce and use renewable energy.
The Strengthening Federal Environmental Energy and Transportation Managerment Executive Order, signed by President George Bush last year, mandates federal agencies to improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions within their operations by 30 percent by 2015.
VA hospitals are leading the charge toward cleaner energy sources, from scheduled solar installation to wind generators.
But the Loma Linda VA is the first of firsts, Barrett said. A VA in Dallas will install a similarly sweeping solar ensemble next year. Once those pilots are done, the plan is to move ahead with major changes at VAs across the country.
At the site Friday, Brad Williams, construction director for SunWise, a solar company with offices in Rancho Cucamonga and Palm Desert, said business has spiked for solar panels in recent years, but nothing like the $2 million project at the VA.
Williams said the company's business is growing 30 to 50 percent annually as commercial business gathers steam, complementing the residential growth from consumers gauged by high energy costs.
Williams said commercial contracts have gone from negligible to more than 30 percent of business in the past two years.
But even he marveled at the sprawling set at the VA, with rows of shiny black panels blanketing 70 percent of the 200,000 square-foot roof.
"We've never done anything this big," Williams said.
Each panel is about 4 feet long and 3 feet wide and generate 185 watts of electricity during peak hours. The rows are angled south to catch the maximum amount of rays, Barrett said.
A 2,000-pound inverter is needed to convert rays to usable electricity, Barrett said.
The power the panels provide is nowhere near enough to sustain a large, energy-thirsty hospital, but over time the system will save money and reduce pollution, Barrett said.
The 300 Kilowatts generated represents just about 1 percent of the hospital's peak energy needs, but over a year that amounts to $60,000 in savings. Along with a rebate from Southern California Edison, Barrett estimates the system will pay for itself in 11 years. It is warrantied for 25 years.
The hospital was built in 1977 and treats nearly 60,000 veterans annually.
The bricks and motar may be from the past, but what's on the roof is decidedly the future, Barrett said.
"This is the direction we're going in," he said. "Doing things smarter, with more care for the environment."