Next month, the Red Sox will begin installing a solar water heating system on the roof of Fenway Park that will replace 37 percent of the gas-heating used in the past. Fenway is also getting rid of waste cans outside the park and replacing them with solar-powered trash compactors so collectors save gas by picking up the trash less often.
BOSTON. The city’s solar energy agenda broadened yesterday as officials announced a geographic mapping plan identifying rooftops suitable for solar panel projects. The goal is to create 50 times more solar power capacity in the Hub over the next seven years.
The Solar Boston initiative stems from the city’s selection for federal assistance as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar America program. The two-year, $550,000 initiative hopes to expand Boston’s current solar energy capacity of a half of a megawatt to 25 megawatts by 2015.
The move could power 3,000 households in Boston, save $5 million in energy costs and eliminate 395,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions, officials said.
In addition, the city’s capital budget, released yesterday, calls for setting $1 million aside to build solar energy projects atop municipal facilities, including Brighton High School, the Strand Theatre, the Tobin Community Center and the West Roxbury branch library.