Solar-Energy Panels Installed at Beaumont Fleet Office

The Maritime Administration is continuing its “Going Green” initiative with the successful acquisition and installation of rooftop solar panels to produce clean, renewable energy at the Beaumont, Texas, offices of the National Defense Reserve Fleet site.

The agency also plans similar innovations soon at its two other fleet sites in Suisun Bay, Calif., and in the James River, Va.

The installation of this green technology, which will help reduce the agency’s carbon-emission footprint, is part of the Maritime Administration’s overall Environmental Excellence Initiative that encompasses all of the agency’s business and work-related travel practices and includes developing best-management practices for all its fleet sites, and agency-wide personnel training for implementation of both carbon reduction and energy conservation.

The new system installed in Beaumont is called a “solar photovoltaic system” and is comprised of 52 panels. It is rated as a 10.4 kilowatt system with an annual production capability of more than 12,000 kilowatt hours.

Reducing agency carbon emissions is about numbers.  This system is expected to prevent emissions of more than 700,000 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) during the course of its expected 30-year service life.

The Maritime Administration also plans to use make use of solar panels, fuel cells, electrical upgrades, and geothermal power at its Gateway offices in Houston, Miami, San Francisco, New York City, New Orleans, St. Louis, Chicago, Long Beach, Calif., and Norfolk, Va., and at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y.