Union Cab of Madison

LOCATION: Madison, Wisconsin   |   COMPLETION DATE: December 2015   |   CAPACITY: added 20kW (25kW total)

SOLAR CONTRACTOR:

Union Cab of Madison Cooperative is worker owned and operated. They added solar to their mechanics shop in 2012, and talked about expanding from 5 to 25 kilowatts, adding power their operations on their main administration building, at 2458 Pennsylvania Avenue, on the east side of Madison.

“Because we are a transportation company 80 percent of our carbon footprint comes from our fleet and can be difficult to offset. We have replaced our sedans with gas electric hybrids, moved to a more efficient minivan. We have instituted a no idling policy for our vehicles, and added energy efficient lighting throughout our buildings and property. We continue to work and strive for energy efficiencies wherever we can for our fleet, buildings and properties.

“Through a grant from the City of Madison and the MadiSUN program we were able to add a 5 kW solar panel array on our maintenance building. Being a worker cooperative did not allow us to take advantage of tax breaks available for solar expansion, but we continued to research for ways to add additional solar capacity. Without Legacy Solar Coop’s participation we would not have been able to afford or move forward with the 20 kW array on our offices. Their assistance with locating financing and technical expertise made this vision become a reality. We are honored to work with and promote their coop. They are an asset to our community and we hope many others will be able to have the experience we had and continue to have in working with them. Every flat surface on every building in our community should have solar panels on them.”

– Butch Hanson, HR Administrator, Union Cab

The main administration building had several exterior light fixtures which were connected to their MG&E electric metered connection. These presented a unique opportunity to blend a solar project with the updating of these fixtures to use LED technology and save more energy than the solar project alone would save this business. The solar equipment will be on a 25-year warrantied timeline, and the LED lighting on a 15-year life expectancy, with at least a 5 year warranty for that technology.

 

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