A brand new 100 kW solar carport at CU-Boulder with the beautiful Flatirons serving as a backdrop. [Photo Credit: CU-Boulder Faculty & Staff Newsletter]

You never know where you might see the latest solar carport. Yours truly was zooming along U.S. Route 36 in Boulder, Colo. recently when both my wife and I said -- "Hey, that's a solar carport." (Yes, I've roped my wife in with my enthusiasm for solar, at least partly ;-)

We drive from our Aurora, Colo. home to visit my brother in Boulder about six or eight times a year. I'm a also CU-Boulder alumnus. However, I had no idea CU was planning to put up a solar carport in a such prominent place in Boulder.

The new 100 kW carport is right in front of CU-Boulder's Bear Creek Apartment Complex where it will not only create great publicity for solar carports -- tens of thousands of cars drive by on U.S. 36 every day, it'll provide shade for the cars of some of the dorm's residents.

In all, the new solar carport will produce 145,000 kWh of electricty per year, or enough to power the equivalent of 20 single-family homes for a year.

This project was funded via a partnership with a third-party financing, design and construction company, EcoDepot.

"If we would have done this project on our own, we would have left a significant amount of tax credits and incentives on the table," said Moe Tabrizi, director of sustainability at CU-Boulder in a recent issue of the CU-Boulder Faculty and Staff Newsletter.

CU can buy the solar installation after seven years at a fraction of the original cost.

More solar projects are in the pipeline at CU-Boulder, including installation of solar photovoltaic panels on multiple available rooftops and awnings.

Cool -- Go Buffs!

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