Italian Secondary Province Road goes solar in San Filippo Del Mela (ME)

[Jerseyman4]

Ive noticed an increase of solar panel installations around the immediate Milazzo (ME) area, mainly in the countryside in the summer of 2006 than last summer. Sicily gets a lot of sunlight year round, especially in the summer months because that is the dry season. Eventually, all of Sicily could be hooked onto the solar panels for street lights then perhaps hook onto the grid system to provide electricity if more is produced than used.

[runawayjim]

i don't understand why more places don't do this for at least the street lights, especially those on highways, which tend to be open spaces and get plenty of sunlight. they can be hooked into the grid when there's not enough sunlight.

i have seen a lot of billboards that use solar panels to power their lights.

[Jerseyman4]

^Probably because the asthethics are not pleasing to some people. It is costly to install solar panels if there are no incentives/tax breaks from the state, at least for residential use (federal gov currently offers $2000, see the Forbes Article in top paragraph). Forbes has an interesting article about how some states are offering benefits of installing solar panels so the consumer ends up paying less.

[runawayjim]

^Probably because the asthethics are not pleasing to some people. It is costly to install solar panels if there are no incentives/tax breaks from the state, at least for residential use (federal gov currently offers $2000, see the Forbes Article in top paragraph). Forbes has an interesting article about how some states are offering benefits of installing solar panels so the consumer ends up paying less.

i'm simply talking solar panels that power streetlights. they can be simply inserted in the top of the light. while it's not very pretty to look at, who gives a crap at how pretty the street lights are on a highway?