Sustainable Tarpon Springs - Solar!

We are blessed to live in the Sunshine State, and if we aren’t utilizing this amazing, unlimited natural resource, we are truly missing out on the joy of free energy.  After years of living in the rainy side of the Evergreen State, I certainly appreciate the possibilities for using solar energy products. 

The only modest solar powered items I previous had were a hand-crank / solar emergency radio, and a tiny panel for charging a cell phone.  We added a Sun Oven to our ‘free energy’ array this holiday season, and are so excited by how easy it is to cook with it - never adding to our energy bill or heating up the house unnecessarily.

I was delighted when one my blog readers, Linda Crismond, offered to share her amazing solar-powered vehicle with me just as I was planning to focus on this subject!  We were able to meet at the Tarpon Tavern earlier this week and she took me on a short round-trip cruise in her solar-powered golf cart down to the Sponge Docks.

I learned, for a golf cart to be ‘street legal’, it must be licensed, insured, and have certain safety equipment features - such as a rearview mirror, windshield wiper, horn, and the orange safety triangle to alert others to it as a ‘slower moving vehicle’.  Golf carts can only be driven on roads with a speed limit of 35 mph or less, but being open sided, it’s hard to imagine wanting to go any faster than the top speed of 24 mph.

The unique feature of Crismond’s golf cart was the 210 watt solar panel roof which exclusively powers her small vehicle.  Battery storage packs are hidden under the front bench seat, but the battery charge indicator is in easy sight for the driver to see how much power remains.  Every 45 minutes of sitting in the full sun powers the cart an additional mile, but for the short commutes around Tarpon Springs, there is easily enough battery power to run errands in a 100% sustainable, non-polluting manner!

The golf cart is a friendly, intimate mode of travel - easily connecting driver and passengers to their surroundings, getting thumbs-up and ‘hellos’ from passers-by.  The suspension, in combination with rough brick roads such as Orange Street, was the only thing that could use some improvement.  As golf carts become more common, surely this aspect will improve with newer models.

When running any plug-in electric vehicle, the power is only as clean as it’s source.  In Tarpon Springs, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, our power comes from petroleum.  The cleanest possible electric vehicle a person could have would be run on solar power, such as Crismond’s golf cart.  If you are interested in more information on solar panels for this purpose, please check here:  http://www.frugaldougalsgolf.com

Only about 2.2 percent of our state’s energy comes from renewable resources, yet our state is second to Texas in highest use of power because of air conditioning and heating.  There is amazing opportunity for us to utilize the sun in an area like ours.  There are many groups in areas with even less solar opportunity who are uniting forces to purchase solar power.   

Look forward to more information on solar opportunities in my future blogs of Sustainable Tarpon Springs!