Edison's Solar Potential

Edison, New Jersey is home to some of the most beloved entertainment, shopping, and family-friendly locations in the state. As interest grows nationwide in clean energy and sustainability, Edison has huge potential to become a leader in adopting solar power. This article explores how key destinations in Edison could incorporate solar panels and solar technology to benefit the environment, the community, and their bottom line.

Why Go Solar?

Before examining how popular Edison locales could specifically implement solar initiatives, let’s review some of the main benefits of transitioning to solar power:

Environmental Advantages

Solar energy generates electricity without releasing greenhouse gases that drive climate change. Investing in solar means cleaner air for Edison families.

Cost Savings

While solar panel installation requires an upfront investment, that is quickly returned through electricity bill savings. New solar incentives in New Jersey also make the switch even more affordable.

Enhanced Brand Image

Customers want to support eco-friendly businesses. Highlighting solar upgrades shows an organization’s commitment to sustainability.

Grid Independence

Solar paired with battery storage allows key community locations to maintain power, even in outages. This provides emergency resilience.

With those benefits in mind, let’s look at which popular destinations in Edison are primed for solar installations.

Menlo Park Mall

As one of the largest indoor shopping centers in NJ, Menlo Park Mall uses a massive amount of electricity each year. By incorporating rooftop solar panels and canopy solar parking covers, the mall could make substantial progress toward clean energy.

Solar parking canopies stationed over parking rows provide shaded spots for cars, protecting vehicles from elements while also harvesting solar energy. Mall management company Simon Property Group has already committed to installing EV charging stations at its mall properties. Adding solar parking canopies would demonstrate continued environmental dedication.

Outfitting the Menlo Park Mall roof with solar panels can also significantly offset electric utility bills. As a large, flat surface with unobstructed sun exposure, mall rooftops possess prime real estate for solar. A New Jersey solar company in Edison could install panels across the expansive roof without impacting operations or customers below.

Channeling solar power directly into the mall’s electric grid would provide clean electricity to illuminate interior lighting, escalators, heating and cooling systems. Any excess solar energy could distribute back into the local utility grid, supplying surrounding homes and businesses.

Menlo Park attracts 13 million visitors annually. Implementing visible solar infrastructure shows consumers the center prioritizes sustainability alongside shopping convenience.

Thomas Edison Center at Menlo Park

The famous inventor’s old laboratory site seems a fitting place to harness innovative solar technology. Solar panels could be mounted on the museum building itself or installed as covered parking beside the EV charging stations.

Exhibiting solar panels on-site provides an intriguing modern connection to Edison’s own pioneering work in electricity and renewable bioenergy. Interactive museum displays could even educate visitors on how solar PV systems work to turn sunlight into usable electric power.

The Edison Memorial Tower especially lends itself to a vertical solar array installation. Tower vertical surfaces receive reliable sunlight throughout the day. New solar glass technology even allows solar cells to be embedded into glass facades. The tower could essentially become a functional solar monument, showcasing Edison’s visionary spirit while generating clean electricity from the sky.

Roosevelt Park

As a hub for recreation and community gatherings, Roosevelt Park has ample room for solar installations that would support electricity needs for lighting, equipment, and field maintenance.

Solar carports over the parking lot could provide covered parking while powering EV charging stations. Rooftop solar on park buildings and picnic pavilions can also reduce grid dependence.

The park’s large lake even presents a unique opportunity for floating solar panels. Floating solar arrays positioned across water surfaces avoid occupying valuable land while benefiting from the cooling effects of water underneath. A floating solar system could cleanly power the recreational park for decades to come.

Funplex Indoor Entertainment

Indoor entertainment centers like Funplex have massive rooftops perfect for solar. Solar panels mounted on the building’s flat roof can efficiently convert sunlight into ample clean electricity for powering arcade games, bowling lanes, go-karts and more.

Extra solar power produced during peak daylight hours gets fed into the local grid. Then at night, the entertainment complex can draw necessary grid electricity once solar generation has decreased. This exchange helps balance electricity supply and demand fluctuations over 24-hour periods.

Installing rooftop solar panels allows Funplex to operate more sustainably, while also demonstrating that commitment to families and guests. Solar energy even fortifies emergency backup resources to keep essential safety and exit lighting on, if severe weather or disasters cut the main grid connection.

Oak Tree Road

The vibrant Oak Tree Road commercial district has diverse prospects for adopting solar technology. Retail plazas, office buildings, warehouses, and manufacturing facilities along Oak Tree Road could all outfit rooftops with solar panels to meet electric needs. Solar parking canopies can also build shaded lots beside businesses, while harvesting additional solar energy.

Restaurant owners might also consider small-scale solar installations to help power kitchen appliances and lighting. Solar patio umbrellas embedded with tiny solar cells could even keep customers charged while dining al fresco!

Oak Tree Road’s concentration of Indian clothing boutiques, grocery stores, and eateries offers rich cultural tradition alongside economic growth. Embracing modern solar solutions allows business owners to conserve energy, demonstrate eco-awareness, and invest in reliable electricity for years ahead.

Jersey Junction Sports Complex

Sprawling sports centers have phenomenal potential for large solar projects, due to expansive building rooftops and open land access. The Jersey Junction Sports Complex can tap into ample sunlight to generate solar power across its 75-acre facility.

Rooftop solar panels mounted on batting cages, sports equipment warehouses and offices provide efficient electricity to handle facility operations. Extra open land also enables building sizable solar carport canopies over parking areas.

The sports center could even lease unused acreage to a solar developer to construct a special community solar farm. Area homeowners could then subscribe to portions of the solar farm in order to receive direct bill credits from locally produced solar power. This unique arrangement provides the sports complex steady lease income, while area families access affordable solar energy without installing panels on their own properties.

Investing in ample solar generation makes Jersey Junction Sports Complex more environmentally friendly and electrically self-reliant. Families who frequent the complex for sporting events can feel good knowing facility operations depend more on clean, renewable power.

Realizing Edison’s Solar Potential

Key destinations around Edison, NJ have phenomenal opportunities to install solar panels on building rooftops, parking covers, and available acreage. Committing to solar demonstrates environmental leadership to consumers and the community.

Solar energy also builds electric reliability, reduces grid dependence, offsets electricity costs, and qualifies businesses for new solar tax credits.

As a proud New Jersey community built upon the innovative spirit of legendary inventor Thomas Edison, Edison has the perfect landscape to unleash the full potential of solar power and sustainable technology. Area homeowners, businesses, and city planners can work together to make Edison a premier solar city for decades to come.