How Solar Energy Can Reduce Historic Building Costs

Across Golden, CO and the country are historic buildings that remind of pride and history in the country’s culture, innovations, and lessons. Every year, local governments maintain them using resources and funding to restore and preserve their exteriors and interiors. With solar panels, local governments can most likely reduce historic site energy consumption, which often depends on site maintenance frequencies.

Solar panel technologies can provide up to 240kWHh for any property a day, making it an excellent choice in preserving and improving historic building energy consumption. Plus, most historic sites, including museums, use electricity the most during daytime. With solar panels, these sites can maximize their energy spending costs and improve cost figures in the following months.

It’s undeniable that solar panel systems can cost upwards of $2,000 to provide a steady 240kWh for cultural and historic buildings. But, the investments guarantee an independent power source that reduces the overall carbon footprint, energy costs, and other factors involved in historic building costs.

Science Daily has a featured article about the initiative in reducing solar energy costs for historic buildings. Learn more about them below:

Researchers from the Centre for Doctoral Training in New and Sustainable Photovoltaics — a consortium of seven universities led by the University of Bath that trains doctoral students in different aspects of solar energy technology — looked at the dimensions, tilt and orientation of the Abbey roof, along with historic weather data, and shading of the roof from spires, to model the best configuration for 164 photovoltaic (PV) panels and estimated the amount of electricity that could be generated in a normal year.

They found that the set up could produce around 45 Mega-Watt hours per year, which accounts for roughly 35% of the Abbey’s annual usage. The equivalent amount of carbon dioxide saved, versus buying the electricity from the National Grid, would be around 10 tonnes per year, significantly reducing the carbon footprint of the building.

A cost-benefit analysis showed that the system could pay for itself in 13 years and provide a profit of £139,000 over a lifespan of 25 years. It would also future-proof the Abbey from rising costs of energy bills. The findings show that despite a large initial outlay, the system would be financially feasible for the historic grade I listed building.

They have published their findings in the journal Energy Science & Engineering.

Matthew Smiles, PhD researcher at the University of Liverpool who is first author on the study, said: “It’s very difficult to insulate historic Grade I listed buildings like Bath Abbey, so installing solar panels is a good way to reduce the carbon footprint of these buildings.

“Most of the Abbey’s electricity is used during the day, when the solar panels would be generating energy from sunlight, making it an ideal building to implement them.

“With increasing energy prices, installing solar panels could result in large cost savings.”

In the model, the panels were sited such that they couldn’t be seen from the street, only from a distance from the Bath Skyline, so would have minimal visual impact on the historic building. (Continue reading here to learn more)

You can always count on us at Roper Roofing and Solar to provide you with top-notch solar panel installation services in Golden, CO. Contact us today to learn more about everything we can do for you.