It was something that we have wanted for a long time. Many of our wildlife sanctuaries already have them. And yet, our headquarters didn’t. But, now, we are happy to share that we have a new photovoltaic (PV) solar array up and running at our central offices in Lincoln.
As a leading conservation organization, it’s imperative that our power come from renewable energy. We generate more than 37% of own our electricity needs with PV arrays. We purchase the rest in renewable energy credits through the nonprofit Mass Energy. Our hope, though, is to continue growing what we generate on our own and reduce the number of credits we buy, freeing up more renewable energy on the grid for others to use.
The HQ array is another step in the right direction. A former estate donated to Mass Audubon in the 1955, our headquarters consists of five buildings. Staff across the campus already make every effort to reduce our footprint—we use energy efficient LED lights and equipment, and receive regular reminders to turn off lights and computers when not in use—but this new array will have, by far, the biggest impact.
Since it was turned on in November, it has already generated more than 4,600 kilowatt hours (kWh) of clean electricity, slightly more than we expected. On December 28, one of shortest days of the year, it generated about 1/4 of the electricity an average home consumes in a month!
See how much power this array is generating and learn more about Mass Audubon’s efforts to reduce our impact.