2010.03.05 – Retirement center investing $1M to harness solar power
from The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area – by Laura Youngs Staff writer
http://triad.bizjournals.com/triad/stories/2010/03/08/story4.html?ana=e_ph
A Greensboro retirement facility is planning a $1 million solar panel project that is designed to reduce its fossil fuel costs by about $30,000 per year.
Wilson Sheldon, CEO of Friends Homes Inc., said his company will install a total of 208 solar panels on the roofs of its two retirement communities, Friends Homes West on West Friendly Avenue and Friends Homes at Guilford on New Garden Road.
Asheville-based FLS Energy — which also designed and installed the panels for the Proximity Hotel in Greensboro — will install and maintain the solar panels, he said. Work will begin in April and should be finished by September.
The panels will provide about 10,000 gallons of hot water for more than 600 residents each day, Sheldon said, making up about 80 percent of its hot water needs, with natural gas service providing the rest.
