Every month I try to write about something that I hope readers find interesting and of value. This month, I thought I would write about an initiative that has been in the works for almost two years and a little over a week ago was contractually finalized for implementation later this summer.
Big picture, one of my objectives is to position Little Friends to be a low-cost producer of services for those we serve. There is nothing magical to the idea, but what I have learned over doing this for 40 years is that low-cost producers with a good product or service tend to survive. Knowing the importance of the work we do for individuals and their families, anything we can do to position the organization for long-term success through lower operating costs is a good thing for the organization’s future.
Given this as a background, we began to investigate the idea of putting solar panels on our roof with the intention of generating solar power capacity to meet our electrical needs. As we investigated this potential solution, we learned that it is possible to capture unused electrical capacity and provide resources from this system to the power grid as a supplement when power demand exceeds normal capacity.
I acknowledge that it sounds complicated, but big picture what we will be able to do is utilize our roof to host a system of solar panels that will generate our power at a substantially reduced cost over a significant period. This is a huge benefit to the long-term operation of Little Friends.
However, the benefits of doing this are multiple, including the environmental benefits that come with harnessing the solar power capacity that can support our general environment at peak periods of time with clean energy. While the impact of the extra power capacity is small compared to total consumption in our environment, it still helps and for that reason, this is a good thing for us all.
There will be more to follow as the installation begins to take shape. I will keep you all posted in the time to come.
