Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Raleigh turns to flower power, solar power

CreativeCommons License by susteph

The Public Utilities Department of Raleigh, N.C., has planted about 50 acres of sunflowers to harvest the seeds for oil. The oil will be processed to produce biodiesel. Department officials hope the biodiesel could then be used to operate the city’s farm equipment.

Photo by the U.S. Forest Service

The city is also leasing 10 acres of land near the treatment plant to Southern Energy Management and NxGen Power to install solar panels that will generate the equivalent amount of electricity used by 200 homes a year, reports The News Observer. (Hey, it's a start!!)

NC is my home state, and I'm always pleased to see positive moves towards sustainable energy practices! This announcement comes with great timing too, just after my post about algae producing biofuels.

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