Renovations to begin on Ann Arbor’s Farmers Market

It seems there isn’t a problem that Ann Arbor can’t address without turning green. Need to upgrade the water facilities in the Ann Arbor Hands-On Musuem? Build a solar-water-heating system. How about improving downtown’s streetlights? Install LED bulbs.

 

Refurbish the aging Farmers Market? Put solar panels on top. That’s city’s latest green effort and it’s getting started as soon as the weather breaks. City workers will begin reconfiguring the market’s parking, fixing the shed structure and dealing with storm-water issues this month as part of the first of the $950,000 project’s three phases.

 

It will begin installing the solar panels this fall. The whole project is set to wrap up sometime next year.

 

City officials say the market has good solar access and will easily accommodate a 10-kilowatt solar-panel system. That system will generate electricity for the market and the adjacent Kerrytown Market. 

 

They also point out that it’s highly visible in one of the city’s most popular destinations. That will allow them to install an educational component to teach the public about the value of solar energy.

 

The system is also the latest component in Ann Arbor’s Green Energy Challenge, a city-wide goal to utilize renewable energy for 30 percent of the city’s energy needs by 2010 and 20 percent of the energy needs for the entire community. Ann Arbor was also named Ann Arbor a Solar America City by the the U.S. Department of Energy last year.

 

Source: Jeff Dehring, park planner with the city of Ann Arbor
Writer: Jon Zemke