Solar Panels — A Win-Win Situation in Death Valley
©Bert Gildart: With considerable pride, Xanterra, a concession in Death Valley, has posted brochures and pamphlets detailing what they have just recently completed for the betterment of the environment.
5,470 solar panels create a win-win sitution in Death Valley
At Furnace Creek, across the road from our Airstream parked at Sunset Campground, in 2008 Xanterra installed 5,470 huge solar panels. The solar panels are controlled in such a way that as the sun moves throughout the day, the face of the solar panels orients so that the face of each unit always absorbs the most solar energy. To obtain the image I borrowed a 12-foot ladder to position me above the protective fence and then with advice to climb carefully, carried it to a point where the panels were facing me.
Brochures say that over the next 30 years, their panels will eliminate the emissions of 284,000 tons of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide, the primarily contributors of global warming, acid rain and smog. To properly complete the installation, Xanterra says they had to move over 144 palm trees, and that, their brochure says, is over “one mile of palm trees.”
LAND OF EXTREMES
The solar panels are just one of the features this environmentally concerned organization is changing. Noting that Death Valley is a park of extremes, where temperatures drop below freezing in the winter and soar to over 130 degree in the summer, Xanterra also says that it prides itself on the recent installation of Energy Star Air Conditioners, cathode light bulbs, and other features that safe them money in energy expenses and help the environment.
From all appearances, it seems this company has produced a win-win situation.
Massive erosion is a characteristic throughout Death Valley and is one of its greatest lures.
It is with much regret that we are departing Death Valley, but doing so with more wonderful memories. Two days ago, we made a roundtrip hike that started in Gower Gulch and concluded with a return down Golden Canyon for a total of over five miles. Once again, we were amazed at the effects of erosion and took time to capture its impact. Today, we are heading toward Anza Borrego and will arrive either late this evening or early tomorrow. It’s not an extremely long drive, but there is much to see along the way.
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