Oct 26 2010
The Pelican Bay Foundation, an organization that preserves the common areas and amenities of the Pelican Bay residential community located in Naples, Florida, has officially launched the solar powered electric tram system provided by Sarasota, Florida-based Eco Trans Alliance and Cruise Care.
The foundation currently performs over 800,000 journeys amounting to over 25,000 miles to the 43 parks, beach front facilities, recreation areas and boardwalks maintained by the foundation.
The solar powered electric tram system launched by the foundation incorporates a 460 W onboard solar power charging system installed by Eco Trans Alliance to produce more than 400 kWh of solar power to run the tram. Each of the new solar powered electric trams is capable of reducing over 500 pounds of CO2 discharges every year and substituting the entire fleet of around 40 trams will effect a reduction of over 22,000 pounds of CO2 released every year.
Travis Fealy, Transportation Director of Pelican Bay Foundation, took the initiative to introduce solar power facility for the trams to trim down the spending on energy and to increase the energy saving efforts of the foundation. According to him the high latitude of Naples provided the location advantage for the solar introduction. He added that the mobile solar solution offered by Eco Trans Alliance saved them from the dependence on grid electric power and costs and also helped in stretching the life of the battery utilized in the tram.
Bill Carpenter, Chairman of Pelican Bay Foundation, explained how the solar power in the transportation system will allow the community to save the serenity and splendor of Pelican Bay. He praised the Eco Trans Alliance for providing an all inclusive solution for an easy change over to solar power and for offering a convincing reason for change over to solar power.
Source: http://www.pelicanbay.org/