Dirk,

When I worked at the Field Museum in Chicago we had solar panels on the
roof, I believe as part of the same "program" Treloar from the Peggy
Notebaert Nature Museum mentions. I'm sure if you called the Field Museum's
facilities department they would give you some information--they are nice
folks. I forget the exact details, but I think on a really sunny day the
panels could provide roughly 5% of the museum's power--doesn't sound like
much, but that would have been enough to power something like 8-10
residential homes (the Field Museum is a big building). I forget what
percentage of the roof the panels covered....

As for such panels paying for themselves, I think you are probably better
off doing it because you want to help save the planet by conserving fossil
fuels and/or letting people experiment as they look for better ways to
produce alternative energy.

Have you tried contacting your city or state's dept. of "environment" or the
equivalent? They may have incentive programs....or local energy utilities
may want to sponsor a solar panel installation....

Daniel W. Eck
Deputy Director for Administration
John Michael Kohler Arts Center
608 New York Avenue, P.O. Box 489
Sheboygan, WI  53082-0489
920.458.6144 (voice)
920.458.4473 (facsimile)
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