Brighton is possibly the first place in the UK to be about to charge electric buses using solar panels. This is excellent news for the solar power industry.
The Big Lemon Bus Company has had solar panels installed to provide power for a couple of its electric buses.
The Big Lemon bus company has had 120 solar panels fitted to the roof of its bus depot at a cost of around £25,000. The solar photovoltaic panels are capable of generating electricity in the region of 30,000kWh enabling a couple of the buses to operate entirely using renewable energy that will no doubt help the environment by reducing carbon emissions. Presumably, this may also mean that the bus company is able to save on fuel costs in the coming years.
It will be interesting to see if any other bus companies here in the UK decide to follow suit and charge up some of their fleets of electric buses using solar power. Will we then see one or two coach companies do the same although, in the main, such vehicles tend to make longer journeys than buses do?
Solar panels are used for a variety of purposes in addition to the more traditional use for providing electricity to homes and businesses in many parts of the UK. For instance, solar panels have been built into the design of some rucksacks enabling the likes of walkers to be able to charge up their mobile phones whilst on the move. Here in the UK, as well as elsewhere in the world, it is possible to have the roof of a newly built property that has incorporated solar panel roof tiles in it as opposed to having the solar panels fitted to the surface of the roof tiles making the panels less obtrusive.
It may be that, over the next few years, we see solar panels being used for other more unusual things as people produce products that can incorporate solar panels into their design. We will continue to let our readers know about such projects periodically.
